J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 

| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 



MEMOIR AND SERMONS 



EEY. WM. J. ARMSTRONG, D.D. 



LATE SECRETARY OF AM. BD. OF COM. FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



3Eirite& is 



REV. HOLLIS READ. 




NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD, 

CORNER OF SPRUCE STREET AND CITY HALL SQUARE. 




(Si** 



I tffc. e&^ 



<L>C 



&Jr#*U{nA 4^ l3 - /f ^ 



{THE LI »* ART I 

[of cohg****| 

WAaHlMOTOIIJ 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 

M. W. DODD, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



B. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 

63 Vesey street, N. Y. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



MEMOIR, 



Page 



Chapter I. — The early Life of Armstrong — Biographical Ac- 
count. By Rev. David Greene, . . . . 13 
" IT. — Dr. Armstrong on the Steamer Atlantic, . . 15 
" III. — Further Notices of Dr. Armstrong — Rev. J. C. 

Smith, Washington City, 72 

" IV. — Dr. Armstrong as a Pastor, Preacher, <fec, . . 88 
44 Y. — Other reminiscences — His early ministry in Char- 
lotteville — Letter to Mrs. Kelly — To his sister — To 
his daughter on her birthday — Armstrong in his 
first field of missionary labor — Conclusion. . . 106 



SERMONS. 

L— The Death of the Saint, . . . • . . . .135 
II. — The Love of Christ a Constraining Motive in the Mis- 
sionary Work, 143 

III. — A Voice from the steamer Atlantic — The Field White 

for Harvest, 153 

IV. — Christ, the Power of God in the Salvation of Men, . 166 

V. — The Living Waters, 177 

VL— The Cross of Christ, 184 

VII. — Love to an Unseen Saviour, 194 

VIII. —The Likeness of God, 208 

IX.— The End of all Things at Hand, 222 



IV CONTENTS. 

Page 

X.— Death and Judgment, 232 

XL— Peace in Death, 245 

XII. — The Unreasonableness, Guilt, and Danger of Inde- 
cision, 259 

XIII. — The Happy Decision, 270 

XIV. — The Children of Believers— Members of the Church, . 280 

XV.— To Die is Gain, 295 

XVI. — Seeking God with the whole Heart, . . . " . 306 

XVII. — Earnestness in Religion, 317 

XVIII. — Immediate Submission, 326 

XIX.— The Almost Christian, 336 

XX.— Panting after God, 348 

XXL — The Faith of the Gospel a Missionary Principle, . . 359 

XXIL— The Missionary Spirit, 370 

XXIIL— The Gospel Triumphant, 383 

Address — " Why Young Men should become Missionaries," . 395 



1 it t r o H 1 1 i r . 



The character of the good man is a legacy to posterity. The 
compiler feels that, in giving the following pages to the public, 
he is made the instrument of conferring a real and substantial 
good. There is good reason, we think, for putting on record, 
in a more enduring form than has already been done, the vir- 
tues of so excellent and useful a man. Few men had so strong 
a hold on the affections of all good men ; and all such as loved 
him will be glad to preserve a memorial of their excellent friend ; 
and few men were so extensively known, and so eminently and 
widely useful ; and, therefore, many in our land, and in foreign 
lauds, who were not personal friends, loved him fur his works' 
sake, and for his Masters sake, and will, on this account, be 
happy to receive this humble tribute to his worth. 

But there remains another reason for this volume. Dr. Arm- 
strong's missionary life covers the most important historic pe- 
riod of American Missions. He entered the missionary service 
in connexion with the Central Board, in 1S34, and closed his 
service on board the Atlantic in 1346 — twelve years of unusual 
interest in the missionary work — a period, as a whole, of great 
prosperity, yet some of these years were years of unwonted 
disaster. Included in this period were those dark days of re- 
vulsion when men, ready to go abroad to the heathen, were 
detained in the country for the lack of funds to send them 
forth ; when the reluctant hand of retrenchment had to pass 

1* 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

over our missions, amputating limbs from the body, disbanding 
schools, crippling the press, dismissing native laborers, and in 
every way retarding the whole work. Those were dark days ; 
and had the only dark feature been that the Board was now, 
for the first time, obliged to recede from its noble resolution to 
send abroad every suitable man who should offer himself, the 
revulsion would have been sufficiently disastrous. To be com- 
pelled to recede here ; to be obliged to say to young men who 
were desirous and ready to go to the heathen, " we cannot 
send you," produced a revulsion in the work which years have 
not fully repaired. 

Dr. Armstrong came to the work for such a day as this. A 
crisis was to be passed, which should call into action the ex- 
perience and wisdom, the zeal and perseverance, of the best and 
wisest men in the church. Armstrong bore his full share in 
this emergency. Not only a crisis was to be met, a reduced 
treasury to be replenished, and a supply of missionary agents 
to be secured, when once, and for the first time, our Colleges 
and Theological Seminaries had heard the announcement made 
that the Board could not send out oil who should be willing to 
go, but a reaction was to be encountered. The evil was felt, 
deeply felt, in all departments of the work, and each of the 
Secretaries of the Board, and the Prudential Committee, bore 
a noble share in the work at this crisis. Yet it was in Dr. 
Armstrong's department, as Secretary of Home Correspondence 
and Superintendent of Agencies, where the remedy must be 
more especially applied ; and how he addressed himself to the 
duties of his office at this critical juncture, how he met the 
crisis, how he encountered the reaction, let the prosperous con- 
dition of the Board for the last eight or ten years, and the in- 
creasing missionary spirit in the churches, tell. The ship was 
almost stranded, masts broken, sails riven, winds adverse, and 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

the fearful and the faint-hearted verily thought she must foun- 
der — at least, that she would not soon be seen sailing on a 
smooth sea, sails full, and breeze fair. But so it was. A few 
years repaired the disaster ; the churches resumed a more 
healthful tone than before ; the schools of the prophets were 
not " disobedient to the heavenly vision ;" they were ready to 
go far away to the Gentiles ; the silver and the gold reple- 
nished the treasury of the Lord ; disbanded schools were again 
collected ; presses again resumed their labors ; new missiona- 
ries were sent out, new stations commenced ; and, after a few 
short years, the friends of Missions forgot the past in the aus- 
picious present. But this state of the work was not brought 
about but by the untiring zeal, the sound judgment, the pious 
perseverance, and the fervent prayers, of the chief agents of 
the Board. Thanks for the men who, under God, conducted 
the Board, and the missionary work, so successfully through 
this crisis. 

And here, especially, do we trace the footsteps of the justly 
lamented Armstrong. It was his province especially to stand 
in the breach, and nobly did he fulfil this mission. To no man 
does the church owe a greater debt of gratitude ; he fulfilled 
his mission, and the Lord took him. How kindly, how ten- 
derly, with what persevering fidelity, how judiciously, he ad- 
dressed himself to the work given him to do, the pastors and 
churches who enjoyed his labors will bear a willing testimony. 

The Sermons which make up so large a portion of the vo- 
lume, constitute a part of the Memoir. They are, in a sense 
historical ; they indicate the condition of the church during 
the period in question ; the means adapted to rouse her to 
duty ; the principles which were needed to be inculcated ; the 
views of Gospel truth, or the particular truths which the con- 
dition of the church required to be urged upon her, and the 



Vlll INTRODUCTION, 

motives to action which ought to be set before her. Yet Dr. 
Armstrong is but partially represented as a preacher by his 
written sermons ; his earnestness of manner, and unction of 
spirit, are but poorly delineated on paper. These, which more 
particularly gave the character to his preaching, sought expres- 
sion rather through the free channels of extemporaneous de- 
livery. 

The conversion of Dr. Armstrong adds another to the num- 
ber of delightful instances of a blessing following parental fide- 
lity on the occasion of a son's first leaving home, to go abroad 
in the wide world. This is an important crisis in a young 
man's life. Abram is believed to have been first awakened, 
and brought to a knowledge of the true God, on the occasion 
of his going from home. There is no evidence of his piety till, 
in his loneliness, as he wandered towards the land of Canaan, 
" the Lord appeared unto him, and there built he an altar unto 
the Lord." And may we not, with yet more probability, affirm 
the same of Jacob ? We hear nothing of his personal piety ; 
of his personal recognition of God as his God, till after that 
notable night, in which, in his loneliness, he lay himself down 
on the earth upon his pillow of stones. He had just cut him- 
self off from the protection, the tenderness, and the sympathies 
of the parental roof ; he felt helpless, defenceless, lonely ; it 
was, perhaps, his first night from home ; the occasion of the 
departure had deeply affected him ; he thought of the pious 
counsels of his father, of the tears and prayers of his mother. 
In the absence of parental counsel and maternal tenderness, he 
felt the need of a Heavenly guide, of the love of One whose 
banners should for ever be over him, whose love should be as 
a wall of fire about him. Before he lays his head upon. his 
hard pillow he prays, invoking the protection of his Heavenly 
Father, and casting himself upon his care. He sleeps ; but his 



INTRODUCTION. IX 



soul awakes, and the Lord appears to him in a dream, and 
promises to be his God, as he had been his father's God ; and 
from this day he avouched the Lord to be his God. And 
many a young man, since, has had occasion to bless God for the 
influences that accompanied this important period of life. The 
tenderness of feeling which such an occasion very naturally en- 
genders ; the kind sympathies it calls out ; the warm and 
friendly instructions which it solicits ; the prayers it calls forth, 
are especially suited to direct the mind heavenwards. The 
parting hour is an hour of great moral power ; hearts are then 
warm, and the susceptibilities of the soul awake to receive the 
most kindly impressions ; thoughts then speak, and words 
burn ; long cherished relationships are broken up ; all are vivid- 
ly reminded of the instability of all such relationships ; are 
made to feel the uncertainty of the return of the departing 
. one ; and very naturally there is at this moment a mutual look- 
ing forward to a home beyond the narrow confines of this life, 
where there are no partings, no adieus, no dissolutions of do- 
mestic ties. Eternal things are then almost involuntarily forced 
upon the attentions of the parties ; prayers are sought and 
pledged, and oftentimes the most salutary and lasting impres- 
sions are made. 

So it was in the case of young Armstrong. He lived a 
thoughtless youth till this important epoch of his life. The 
father's attempts to reach the heart of the son were now for 
the first time successful. " The first? decidedly religious im- 
pressions were now made on the mind of the son." These im- 
pressions never wore off ; after a few months he became the sub- 
ject of saving grace. 

In the preparation of the Memoir, two plans suggested them- 
selves to the mind of the compiler : the first was to recast the 
materials put into his hand from which to construct it, and so 



INTRODUCTION. 



combine the several accounts which appeared at the time, as 
the better to preserve the unity and order of the thoughts and 
events therein contained ; the other was, to let the writers of 
those different notices each speak for himself, as he spoke while 
yet every ear was tingling with the sad reverberations from 
that doomed vessel, and while that solemn bell was yet tolling 
the requiem of the departed ones, and anguish and wailing 
was yet going up from many an afflicted household. I chose 
the latter method as more consonant, I doubt not, with the 
feelings of the numerous friends who still retain a vivid recol- 
lection of the mournful catastrophe. They would have its 
events recounted in the language of the day, when men spoke 
with the voice of the Almighty still sounding in their ears. 
This, we are persuaded, will more than compensate for the 
lack of order and consistency which we consent to sacrifice. 

In reference to the sermons destined to fill up this volume, 
the only difficulty has been in the selection. Few pastors, of 
the same number of years standing, it is believed, left behind 
them so many good sermons. I do not say great sermons in the 
usual acceptation of the term, but good, practical, evangelical 
sermons ; all so uniformly good as to make a selection difficult. 
I am, therefore, by no means sure that I have selected the best 
of the great number put into my hands. Those selected will 
doubtless be pronounced good ; and they present a fair and 
pleasant record of the man, the preacher, and the Christian. 

We present this volume to Dr. Armstrong's friends as a 
memorial of his worth, sure they will accept the offering as a 
record of one they loved. You loved him as a man, you 
honored him as a Christian, you revered him as a minister of 
Christ, and you will love to cherish his memory, to imitate his 
virtues, and to transmit his character to your children. 

Accept, then, this record of your friend and brother in Christ ; 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

peruse it ; circulate it ; and pray the great Master of the vine- 
yard that he will raise up a succession of such men to adorn 
the ministry of reconciliation, to favor God's gracious plans of 
mercy to the heathen, and thus abundantly to light up with a 
smile the moral desolations of our world. 



MEMOIR OF KEY. W. J. ARMSTRONG, D.D. 



CHAPTER I. 

The early life of Armstrong — Memoir by Rev. David Greene. 

Though dead the wise and the good man lives ; 
though dumb, he speaks ; though absent in the place of 
graves, he is present with us, and we commune with 
the soul that is gone. He lives in every truth he pro- 
mulgated, in every precept he exemplified, in every 
right principle he inculcated, or which he yet more 
indelibly impressed on the minds of his cotemporaries 
by living ads; he lives in every right feeling and 
moral affection which he transmitted to others. The 
teachings, the character, the virtues of the good man 
are immortal. Hence the value of all truthfully written 
biography. If it be a fair picture of the good man, it 
is an inheritance to posterity worth preserving. If it 
be a truthful mirror, we cannot suspend it in too con- 
spicuous a place, or look at it too often. But will it be 
read? We think it will, and we think so because it 
pays homage to goodness, to moral excellence, to truth, 
integrity, benevolence, and amiability. 

Bare as these virtues are in our apostate world, yet 
when they are really seen or recorded, as in the case of 
the subject of this memoir, they are revered. It is the 
homage which the world pays to virtue. 

Few men have shared so largely in the confidence 
2 



14 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

and affections of all good men as Dr. W. J. Armstrong. 
He was one of the five excellent Secretaries of the 
American Board, who in quick succession, and while 
their sun had scarcely passed the zenith of life, have 
been called from their arduous and useful labors 
below to enter upon a higher service, nearer the great 
King. Such was the man, such the various posts he 
held in the King's service, such the work he did, and 
the universal esteem in which he was held, as to seem 
to accord to him a memorial among the mighty dead, 
Armstrong was a man of kindred spirit with Worcester, 
Evarts, Cornelius and Wisner. He had filled the 
office of Secretary of the Board longer than either of 
them — eleven years in all. And such, too, was the 
manner of his death as to give an interest to the details 
of his life. 

A biographical notice, by the Eev. David Greene, 
co-secretary of the Board with Dr. Armstrong, very 
happily portrays, in a few pages, the prominent points 
of the life of the late secretary. "We insert this excel- 
lent notice without mutilation or amendment, simply 
adding to it such other notices as appeared at the time 
of Dr. Armstrong's death, and as we have been able 
since to collect. We also interpose a few entries in a 
brief diary which he kept in the early part of his life, 
and two letters — one from his excellent father — all fur- 
nishing a further illustration of his early life. 

^William Jessup Armstrong was bom on the 
20th of October, 1796, at Mendham, New Jersey, 
where his father, Eev. Amzi Armstrong, D.D., was 
pastor of the Presbyterian Church. He was the oldest 
of nine children, of whom six were daughters. His 
parents consecrated him to God, and early expressed 
the desire that, following in the footsteps of his father, 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 15 

he might be qualified for, and in due time enter, the 
Gospel ministry. Their prayers and councils, and all 
the arrangements relative to his education, bore on this 
subject. 

" The first years of his life were spent at home, 
acquiring the common rudiments of an education ; in 
addition to which he had, at the age of thirteen, made 
such attainments in the Latin and Greek languages as 
to be qualified to enter college. But for want of 
maturity and vigor of physical constitution, and pro- 
bably, also, a desire to retain a youth of such a temper- 
ament longer under the Christian watch and guidance 
of the parental roof, he was placed on a farm, where he 
spent about five years, anticipating some of his college 
studies, but dividing his time mainly between manual 
labor and reading, the former increasing his muscular 
energy to a somewhat uncommon degree, laying a foun- 
dation for that excellent and uninterrupted health 
which he enjoyed, and contributing undoubtedly to 
that promptness and tact in every station and employ- 
ment to which he was called, by which his later years 
were characterized; and the latter storing his mind 
with much of that general information on which he 
drew when subsequently occupied with active public 
labors. 

" In 1814, at eighteen years of age, young Armstrong 
entered the junior class in the college at Princeton, the 
venerable Dr. Green being then President. Hitherto 
he had been a lively, ardent, impetuous youth; and 
though he must have known the wishes and prayers of 
his father, and that he was sent to college only with the 
hope that he might become qualified to preach the 
Gospel, yet he seems not to have sympathized with 
him, nor spent much thought on his own spiritual con- 
cerns and prospects. As the best method of reaching 



16 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

his heart, the father, before the object of his hopes was 
sent from home, addressed a sermon to the youth of his 
congregation, prepared with special reference to the 
case of this son. The prayer of the father was heard, 
and his aim in part accomplished. By that sermon the 
first decided religious impressions were made on the 
mind of the son. These impressions, though partially 
effaced by the novel scenes and excitements of college 
life, never wore off; and a few months afterwards, 
during a revival of religion in that institution, young 
Armstrong indulged the hope of acceptance with God. 
This revival, it is understood, gave occasion for the 
tract, by Dr. Green, entitled l Questions and Counsels,' 
which has since been so extensively useful in times of 
religious awakening." 

Fain would we know more of this interesting portion 
of young Armstrong's life. A youth of eighteen years, 
he consecrates himself to his God. Here he lays the 
foundation of that sterling Christian character which 
so well adorned his after life. How was this character 
formed, under what guidance, by what helps, through 
what instructions ? We trace in the formation of such 
a character the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the 
counsels of the inspired word. And we may distinctly 
trace, too, the " Questions and Counsels" and teachings 
of that time-honored servant of Christ (lately fallen 
asleep) who then presided over Nassau Hall. Were we 
to judge of the thoroughness and depth of that work 
of grace from Dr. Green's carefully drawn up statement, 
in the shape of a report to the trustees of the college, we 
should expect its converts would prove such men as 
Armstrong and Bishop Mcllvine, and others of blessed 
memory, who were its subjects. Yet we are not with- 
out another ray of light here. Though Dr. Armstrong 
was not in the practice of keeping a journal, yet a few 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. lY 

entries in the early part of his Christian experience give 
no doubtful intimation of the kind of Christian charac- 
ter which he then began to form. We shall there 
discover the germ, the elements of that meek, self- 
denying, energetic religion, which so beautifully charac- 
terized his after life. Though they are the breathings 
of the new-born soul, the fresh aspirations of the bride- 
groom coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a 
strong man to run a race, yet we discern in them the 
elements of that character which afterwards so adorned 
the man, and blessed the church. 

Occasionally during the year 1815, the year after the 
date of the commencement of his religious life, he 
noted down his religious exercises. "We find expres- 
sions like these : — 

" Oh, for increasing grace ! Oh, for the Holy Spirit 
to warm and animate my cold and insensible heart, and 
to revive my weak and dying grace ! How good is God ! 
Praise him all my soul — all that is within me. Praise 
his holy name for all his mercies unto me. What pre- 
cious privileges have I this day enjoyed. Dr. G. 
preached from Eph. ii, 14, 'He is our peace.' A power- 
ful sermon, and I humbly hope not quite useless to my 
dying, immortal soul. How little have I lived to Him 
who died for me. How much sin have I committed ; 
how much that I might have done have I left undone ! 
Gracious Saviour, quicken me by the sanctifying influ- 
ence of Thy holy spirit, so that I may live more to Thy 
glory. Subdue these lusts which war against my soul. 
Rule in me, and reign over me. Be my prophet, priest, 
and king ; be my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
and redemption. Oh, give me a spirit of earnest, 
humble, and fervent prayer. Give me the temper of a 
little child. Make me meek and lowly, make me, if it 
please thee, an humble instrument in Thy hands of 



18 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

doing much good in my day and generation. True, 
Lord, I am unworthy, but Thou art merciful. Thy 
sacrifice is sufficient. In that world, I place all my 
hopes. To Thy cross would I nail all my corruptions. 
By it would I rise to dwell for ever in Thy presence. 

" Truly the Lord is good to me, though I am un- 
grateful. Oh, that His mercies might lead me to 
repentance — that His suffering, His dying love might 
sweetly constrain me to love Him with my whole heart, 
and to serve Him with a perfect service. Blessed, pre- 
cious, lovely, dying Saviour, take me! take me, oh, 
take me, with all that I have and am ; renew and 
sanctify me, make my polluted soul a fit temple for Thy 
holy spirit to dwell in. Give me a spirit of prayer ; 
grant communion and fellowship with Thyself. May I 
live near to Thee — may I walk with God. 

" How little I have profited by the privileges of this 
day. Lord, call me not to an account in justice as 
Thou mightest do for misimprovement. Look in 
mercy on me through the mediation of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. For his sake have mercy on me and bless me. 
Create in me a new heart, and renew in me a right 
spirit. Guide me in the path of wisdom ; make me 
wholly Thine. May I live in Thy fear and to Thy 
glory. Thou knowest my heart — lead me in Thine 
own way. Bless to me the opportunity of hearing Thy 
word this evening. 

u Again the light of that blessed morning that saw 
the Lord arise has greeted my opening eyes. But how 
cold has it found me. How little prospect of a blessing 
on this day unless God, for his own mercy'.s sake, inter- 
pose. My heart is cold as the ice, and harder than the 
nether mill-stone. How dead and cold were my secret 
prayers this morning. Oh, blessed sun of righteous- 
ness, shine upon me, and warm and animate my cold 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 19 

and lifeless affections. I do long for Thy salvation. I 
do earnestly long for Thy presence, and to enjoy the 
sweets of communion with thee. I deserve them not, 
but Thou hast said I came not to call the righteous, but 
sinners to repentance. Call me — draw me sweetly to 
thee by the sweetly constraining influences of the 
blessed Spirit. Oh, for a sight of my blessed Jesus — 
for one of his seraphic smiles, to give me, even in this 
world of sin and sorrow, a precious foretaste of those 
joys which, angels and the spirits of just men made 
perfect, have, while they cast their sorrows at His feet, — 
and in loudest symphony tune their golden harps to 
the praises of the Lamb that was slain from the foun- 
dation of the world. 

" This day I have made a solemn resolution in the 
presence of Grod, and, in His strength, I humbly hope 
never again so to yield myself to temptation as to indulge 
in my most easily besetting sin. I most fervently pray 
that he would keep me from it by his grace, and grant, 
for Jesus' sake, that I may serve him in holiness all the 
days of his life. — W. J. A. [Broken] — Grod be merciful 
to me a sinner. — W. J. A." 

In the breathings of this new-born soul, we meet the 
earnest pleadings for greater measures of grace — deep 
searchings of heart — the self-renouncing, self-denying 
spirit — an honest self-examination, and an earnest desire 
that he may at once enter the service of his new Mas- 
ter : " Quicken me by the influence of Thy Spirit — 
rule in me and over me. Oh, give me a spirit of 
earnest, humble, fervent prayer. Give me the temper 
of a little child. Make me meek and lowly ; and if it 
please thee, make me an humble instrument in Thy 
hands of doing much good in my day and generation/ 7 
Nor were these aspirations after holiness, these hun- 
gerings and thirstings for greater supplies of grace, 



20 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

this ardent desire to be good and to do good, in vain. 
They were incipient motions of that spiritual life which 
was so richly developed in after manhood. They 
reveal the source of that life, and the means by which 
it is watched over and cherished, and brought to matu- 
rity. Piety is a delicate germ, planted by the hand of 
the ever blessed Spirit, yet, unless it be cherished by 
the kindly influence of prayer, and fed by the bread of 
life, and rooted in the soul by meditation on the Divine 
Word, and watered from the wells of salvation — unless 
the genial sun shine upon it, and the breath of Heaven 
breathe upon it, it will wither and bring forth no fruit. 

Such was not the religion of the lamented Armstrong. 
His religion was a full, flowing, fertilizing stream, 
gathering strength and depth and momentum at every 
step of its progress; becoming broader, purer, more 
fertilizing as it gently descended into the ocean of 
eternal bliss. It was the river of life flowing out from 
the throne of God, and after meandering in delightful 
luxuriance amidst the moral desolations of this fallen 
world, dispensing untold blessings in its course, it 
returned to the exhaustless fountain from which it 
sprung. Be it our delightful task to start from these 
small, yet not insignificant, beginnings, and to follow 
down this living stream, marking well the deserts it has 
made glad, and the solitary places it has made to blos- 
som as the rose. 

The following letter reveals a secret in the formation 
of Dr. Armstrong's character. Never was parental 
instruction better given or more honestly and profit- 
ably appropriated. Though the letter gives us but a 
single glance at the parental and ministerial character 
of the father, it is enough to indicate the rich patri- 
mony which fell to the lot of the son. He evidently 
" divided his living" with a son, who played not the 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 21 

prodigal, but suitably used the goods that fell to him 
from a worthy father. But we will let the letter speak 
for itself. 

Letter addressed to Win. J. Armstrong by his father, Bev. 
Amzi Armstrong, 

" Mendham, 20th Feb. 1815. 

" My dear Son : 

11 Yours of the 10th inst. came in due time by the 
mail. Never before did you give me such pleasure 
and comfort as when you asked counsel of me, to help 
you in the service of the Lord Christ, and concerning 
the way of life. It is of immense importance to you 
that the present precious opportunity you enjoy should 
be used to acquire a fixed and settled taste and decided 
predilection for your Lord's service, and for the moral 
principles, and the holy doctrines of His word. Culti- 
vate, therefore, I beseech you, a spirit of meek and 
dutiful obedience to his will, and firm and unwavering 
reliance upon his word and promise. I hope the spirit 
of grace has wrought in }^our heart that full persuasion 
which has given you a more complete.and joyful assur- 
ance that Jesus is the Christ, and that all the promises 
of God are in him, yea, and in him amen, than you 
ever had of any other truth or position whatever. 
This is the rock on which the church is builded, and 
the foundation — the cornerstone of all our hopes. 

11 Strive to have this conviction deeply inwrought 
into all the sentiments and feelings of your heart. 
This you cannot accomplish by any artful contrivances 
or stratagems ; but only by maintaining a meek and 
dutiful temper, and strengthening the conviction by 
prayerful reading and meditation in the Divine Word. 
That word is the great charter of your Christian hopes, 



22 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

and must be your guide in the path of life, and, there- 
fore, your best security will be an intimate and pious 
acquaintance with it. 

u Whether written obligations, as } r ou mentioned in 
your last, would be useful in your case, I am at a loss 
to judge. My opinion has been, that for persons natu- 
rally of a phlegmatic, unyielding temper they may be 
useful. But for those of a more pliant and generous 
native temper, it is better that they accustom them- 
selves to frequent repeated acts of consecration in 
prayer and worship addressed immediately to their 
Lord, continually referring in their thoughts and feel- 
ings to those highest bonds, and most solemn obliga- 
tions that are written and sealed in the blood of Christ. 
In every case there is danger, I suppose : the execution 
of such written obligations as, I think, Dr. Doddrige 
proposes, may lead to a legal and self-righteous spirit 
in relying, if not on our own doings, yet on our pur- 
poses of doing, and in holding ourselves bound, by our 
own act, rather than by those everlasting and most 
solemn obligations which we owe to God in Christ. 

"I think it would be better for you if you could 
habituate yourself to a cheerful and entire trust, com- 
mitting yourself and all your interests and concerns to 
God in Christ, and being anxious only to obey his will 
and do his service. Your self-examinations, then, 
would turn not on the question l Am I safe ? 7 but on 
this rather, 'Do I reverence and love my Lord and 
Master, and am I obedient to His holy will and plea- 
sure ?' And if, at any time, fears and doubts beset 
you hard, look into the pages of His sacred Word for 
a refreshing of your faith in that Divine truth, which is 
the source of light and peace. And continue to look 
there, with prayer and supplication, and turn not to 
any other expedient, till the spirit of grace revive that 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 23 

persuasion which so fills and satisfies the mind as to 
leave no wish or desire unsatisfied, but this, that you 
may serve and please the Lord. Be assured that 
nothing short of this persuasion of the truth as it is in 
Jesus will ever fill your heart with the true joy and 
peace of the believer, and without this persuasion all 
other sources of joy and consolation must fail you. 
Your Christianity is no better than deism if this be not 
the chief and leading axiom in it, that Jesus is the 
Christ ; and it is only by a direct view of faith, behold- 
ing the Lamb of God, that the power of sin in us, and 
over us, is effectually broken. If you lose sight of this 
object, j-ou will be involved in darkness. And, re- 
member, God requires of you the exercise of your 
moral faculties, and your rational nature, in habits of 
believing, and extended views of the precious truth, to 
supply, in a measure, the place and office of those vivid 
apprehensions which are the more immediate work of 
the spirit of grace, and which you are not to expect 
will be always continually supplied to you in your 
state of trial ; else there would be no trial. If you be 
indeed a Christian, it is your faith that is to be tried, 
that your temper may be mended. You are not to be 
guided or measured by men, nor to rely on comparing 
yourself with yourself, but your rule of faith and the 
foundation and support of your hope, are to be taken 
only from the sacred Scriptures. 

" Your very affectionate father, 

i: A}izi Armstrong." 

The lines which follow, the effusions of his youthful 
heart and untried muse, give us a farther intimation as 
to where young Armstrong gathered the elements of 
that healthful, Bible character, which unfolded in such 
ripeness in after years. The means by which these 



24 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

stanzas were preserved, and the source from which they 
came into the hands of the compiler, give them some 
additional interest. There still lives in this place an 
aged woman, now humbled and debased, who well 
knew the Armstrong family when William was a boy. 
Either from repetition, or otherwise, she had received 
these lines, and committed them to her memory. And 
there, after more than thirty j^ears, W as found the only 
copy known to be in existence. The following fac- 
simile was taken, verbally, from its original plate and 
transferred to paper : — 

THE BIBLE. 

The Bible, man's best friend on earth, 
Friend, indeed, of Heavenly birth, 
Precious gift of God to man, 
Who Thy excellence can scan ? 

In this Tale, where sorrows spring, 
Thou canst make the mourner sing; 
In this land of darkest night, 
Thou canst cheer with heavenly light. 

When the heart corrodes with care, 
Sweet Thy consolations are ; 
When the anguished spirit dies, 
Springs of life are Thy supplies. 

In the hour of ardent youth, 
May I love Thy sacred truth ; 
May it all my actions guide, 
May it check my passions' tide. 

When advancing on life's stage, 
I arrive at middle age, 
Be thou still my chosen friend, 
All my footsteps to attend. 

May I never, never stray, 
From that calm and peaceful wiy, 
Over life's tempestuous sea, 
Pointed out alone by Thee. 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 25 

When I hear the billows roar, 
As they dash against that shore 
Whither all are tending fast, 
At which all must end at last : 

As a beacon shed Thy light, 
O'er the waves, dispel the night, 
Cheer the darkness, cheer the gloom, 
Thickening awful o'er the tomb. 

Light me to that blissful port, 
Where my Saviour holds his court ; 
Then I'll chant Thy praises high, 
There my joys will never die. 

In this connection, the following letter will be read 
with interest; it is the voice of a much respected 
friend. Not only does it come as a timely and faithful 
messenger, to serve our present purpose, but to many it 
will be received as a precious record of by -gone scenes 
of peculiar interest. That precious revival was the 
beginning of spiritual life to some of the brightest 
ornaments of the American church. Armstrong, 
Mcllvaine, Daniel Baker, Byington, and Governor 
McDowell, of Virginia, were the subjects of it. It was 
truly a fountain from which flowed forth many a copi- 
ous stream that has carried beauty and fertility through 
as many desert fields. 

" Belvidere, N. J., Aug. 5th, 1851. 

11 Mr. A. Merwin. 

" My dear Sir, — As you have desired from me any 
information that I may possess relative to the important 
change in the moral character of that devoted servant 
of God, I hasten to communicate such knowledge as I 
possess touching the single point of his conversion. At 
the time of this remarkable outpouring of God's spirit, 
I was a member of the senior class, and certain events 
that transpired then have left an indelible impression 



26 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

on my mind. At tliis period, and how many years 
prior I know not, an evening prayer meeting was care- 
fully observed by the few pious students of the col- 
lege. The hour for that meeting was announced by 
the bell, intimating to the students that the time had 
arrived when each was expected to retire to his room 
for the nisrht. 

o 

" These were precious meetings for praise and prayer, 
and as my room was central in its position, it was the 
place for assembling during most of the two years that 
I remained in Princeton. There were students at this 
time connected with the college, who by their riotous 
and insubordinate conduct had caused the faculty 
much trouble. Daniel Baker, a beloved classmate and 
most intimate friend (now Dr. Baker, signally blessed 
in his labors as a pastor and missionary), in one of our 
walks, proposed that we should make a special effort 
for the conversion of our fellow students. It happened 
that we were members of the different literary societies 
connected with the college. He a Whig and myself a 
Clio. The spirit of rivalry between these societies was 
such that there was but little social intercourse among 
the students, excepting as Whigs associated with 
Whigs, and Olios with their fellows. The simple plan 
proposed was for each to select some one of our uncon- 
verted friends, and having made them the subject of 
special prayer, affectionately and earnestly to direct 
their immediate attention to the subject of personal 
religion ; and to report whatever of an interesting 
nature might occur. I have always felt, in looking back 
to this subject, that God put this thought and desire in 
Brother Baker's heart, and that this, however small, 
was the beginning of that work of grace which issued, 
under the appropriate means, in the conversion of so 
many men who have honored God in the ministry, 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. ( 2 7 

and in the other professions which they have so use- 
fully sustained. The first person that I took occa- 
sion to converse with was a Mr. Newbold, of Phi- 
ladelphia, a member of the junior class. He was a 
young man, amiable, of a correct deportment and 
universally respected. As a scholar, he stood at the 
head of his class. I never shall forget the tenderness 
of feeling that he manifested, and the w r arm embrace 
with which he drew me to his bosom. He literally 
took me up in his arms, and said that he had thought 
often and much on the subject of his soul's salvation, 
and expressed a determination to delay the matter no 
longer. He said he had often felt a wish to attend the 
prayer meeting, but feared he might intrude. That 
night he was present, and shortly after gave evidence 
of decided piety. Through his agency the first Sab- 
bath school was organized in Princeton, which I think, 
indeed, was the first established in New Jersey. It 
w r as his purpose to have preached the Gospel, in con- 
nection with the Episcopal Church ; but he was called 
to serve God in his upper temple. The second person 
that I ventured to address was William J. Armstrong. 
I knew him to be the son of a distinguished and 
devoted minister of the Gospel, and of course the sub- 
ject of many prayers. Mr. A. had been connected 
with the college but a short time, but sufficiently long 
to make it known that he was a man of mind, and a 
scholar of the first order. He was full of life and 
good humor ; I think in no way immoral, but 
manifesting no interest on the subject of religion. I 
met in this case, also, a very cordial reception. I do 
not remember even the substance of our conversation ; 
but this I recollect, that he formed the solemn purpose 
to give his heart to God, and that I believe was the 
beginning of that obedience and devotedness to God's 



28 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

service which characterized his subsequent life. Bro- 
ther Baker, I think, invariably met with a similar 
reception, and soon a goodly number attended our 
evening meeting for prayer; indeed after a few weeks 
our room could not contain them, and it was a most 
interesting sight at last to behold the whole college, 
with perhaps a few exceptions, on their knees in social 
prayer. Dr. Greene labored abundantly in the work, 
and had the efficient aid of the professors in the Theo- 
logical Seminary. Mr. A. communicated the state of 
his mind to his father, and about the time he began to 
indulge a hope of an interest in Christ, he received and 
read to us a most affecting letter from his father, in 
which he stated that he and his mother had just risen 
from prayer, where they had wrestled with the angel 
of the covenant that he might be made the subject of 
the renewing grace of God. 

" About thirty-five years have passed since these 
events transpired. I am not able to recall any striking 
incidents relative to his conversion. 

U I am aware that I have not communicated much of 
interest to you or to his family. 
" Yours, &c, 

' ; Edward Allen." 

From this period, the inclination and purpose of the 
son were in unison with the desires and plans of the 
father. He selected the ministry as his profession, and 
turned his thoughts and studies in that direction. 
And it is an interesting and well-authenticated fact, 
that at this early period, his mind was much interested 
in the foreign missionary work, and he seriously con- 
templated devoting himself to it. In the spring of 
1815, either at Princeton or Mendham, probably the 
latter, he made a profession of his faith in Christ. In 



mkmoir of w. j. Armstrong. 20 

1816, he completed his college course, with a respect- 
able standing as a scholar, and soon after returned to 
his father, who then had charge of a large and flourish- 
ing academy in Bloomfield. Placing himself under 
the care of the Presbytery, as a candidate for the minis- 
try, he immediately commenced the study of theology, 
under the direction of his father, in whose school he 
also rendered assistance as a teacher. Occasionally he 
submitted himself for examination to the late Dr. Eich- 
ards, then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in 
Newark, and subsequently professor of theology in the 
Auburn seminary. 

After two years spent in this manner, he was licensed 
to preach the gospel, but instead of entering fully 
upon the public labors of the ministry, he repaired to 
Princeton, w^here he continued a year, enjoying the 
greater advantages for prosecuting his studies, furnished 
by the theological seminary in that place. That love 
for preaching which characterized him through life, 
led him gladly to avail himself of opportunities, on the 
Sabbath and at other times, of publishing God's mes- 
sage of salvation, and beseeching men to become 
reconciled to him. 

Having thus gone through a thorough course of 
training for the gospel ministry, he was ready to enter 
upon the work; and his characteristic ardor and fear- 
lessness of toil and exposure seem to have led him at 
the outset to make his way into the most untried and 
least promising field, and where most difficulties were 
to be encountered. He did not inquire for a good 
ministerial people, a well organized, well instructed, and 
orderly church, where he might have a comfortable 
home, with little more left for him to do than to carry 
forward things as he found them. He wished not to 
build on another man's foundation, but to preach the 



30 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

gospel in regions beyond, and not to boast in another 
man's line of things made ready to his hand. His 
inquiry seems to have been, Where are men most in 
want of the instructions and the saving influences of 
the gospel ? Animated by this spirit, he was commis- 
sioned b}^ the General Assembly's Board of Missions 
to proceed to Albemarle county, in the central part of 
Virginia. Furnished by his father with a horse and 
travelling equipments, he proceeded to his appointed 
field. Here he spent two years, laboring principally in 
Charlottesville and its vicinity, near the residence of the 
late President Jefferson, and wliere has since been 
established the University of Virginia. Infidelity and 
irreligion greatly prevailed. ]STo church, it is stated, 
had ever been organized there ; and the Lord's Supper 
had never been administered. The young missionary, 
with his ardor and singleness of aim, with the uncom- 
mon amiableness of his character and the peculiar 
pathos of his eloquence, could not but command atten- 
tion in such, a place. Marked success attended his 
labors. A number of interesting cases of conversion 
occurred among infidels. A Presbyterian church was 
gathered, which still exists, and the face of society was 
much changed for the better. It is said that Mr. Jef- 
ferson, who could not be expected fully to sympathize 
with the preacher, or appreciate him as an ambassador 
of Christ, and who yet seems to have been impressed 
w T ith the great influence lie was exerting, remarked, on 
hearing that some of his infidel friends had become 
members of the new^ly organized Christian church, that 
the preacher who had thus wrought upon them was 
" more of a knave than a fool." 

The labors of Mr. Armstrong in this interesting field 
were soon interrupted ; but not until he had in a good 
measure fulfilled the mission for which he was so pe- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 31 

culiarly qualified. The declining health of his father 
recalled him to New Jersey in 1821. On his arrival, he 
found Bloomfield favored with an outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit. Into this wort he entered with his whole 
heart, in connection with the pastor of the church, the 
Eev. Gr. N. Judd. His labors were also highly accept- 
able ; and as he became known, a number of churches 
were desirous of obtaining him as their pastor. He 
accepted the unanimous invitation of the First Presby- 
terian Church in Trenton, and labored there with fidelity 
and success nearly three years. 

In the spring of 1824, the late Dr. John H. Eice 
having left the First Presbyterian Church in Eichmond, 
Virginia, and entered upon a professorship in the Union 
Theological Seminary, recommended Mr. Armstrong to 
that church as his successor in the pastoral office. The 
invitation was given, and was so earnestly pressed upon 
him by their late pastor, who was well acquainted with 
his acceptable and useful labors in Albemarle, that he 
thought it his duty to accept it. For ten years he was 
the laborious, beloved, and successful pastor of that 
church, during which period his labors were extended 
over a wide circle around, and his Christian influence 
was steadily increasing through the State. 

There is ample evidence that in all departments of 
labor as a pastor he was diligent, successful, and highly 
esteemed. One who resided near him while at Trenton, 
and afterwards followed him in the pastoral office there, 
bears the following testimony : 

11 While he was at Trenton, I often listened to his 
sermons, and there was no man, whom, at that day, I 
heard with more impression. His discourses were care- 
fully prepared, and were pronounced with a degree of 



32 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

warmth and emotion, which are quite unusual. "While 
his intonations were far from being rhetorically perfect, 
the general result of so much truth, uttered with so 
much energy, could not fail to be an awakening of the 
hearer's mind. My recollection is vivid of his appeals 
to the heart, as being of a high order. He was often 
greatly moved himself, and was heard by numbers, I 
doubt not, to their everlasting good. 

" When, at a later period, I was called to labor among 
the same people, I found that he had left that good 
name, which is ' better than precious ointment.' There 
were manifest tokens of his faithfulness, in public and 
in private. 

" Still later, I enjoyed his hospitality, and shared his 
labors in Virginia, where we both were settled. The 
same characteristic seriousness and zeal here prevailed 
in his ministrations ; and I suppose his labors were 
much increased. In various parts of the State, I have 
lizard of him, and always in a way which was most 
honorable to his Christian qualities. No man of my 
acquaintance seemed to me more simply bent on doing 
good, and reaching the profound convictions of his 
hearers. In my humble judgment, Dr. Armstrong was 
a felicitous sermonizer. His discourses abounded in 
what I may be allowed to call fervid argument They 
were often elaborate, always judicious, always unpre- 
tending, and sometimes highly pathetic. Intense feeling 
took the place of art, and covered a multitude of minor 
blemishes. As a private Christian, our lamented friend 
was above reproach. I never saw him for an instant 
frivolous, or for an instant sour. His very countenance 
told of affectionate seriousness. There was at times a 
beseeching earnestness in his look, which will be re- 
membered by his friends." 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. M 

Another, who sat under his ministry during the ten 
years of his settlement in Richmond, writes : 

"Dr. Armstrong was blessed with a strong mind and 
vigorous body, and was capable of more mental and 
pt^sical labor than most men, which he never hesitated 
to tax to the utmost whenever the cause of Christ called 
for it. I have often, since his removal from us, made 
something like an estimate of his labors here ; and I 
am within bounds when I say, that during the ten 
years which he spent with us, he must have delivered 
weekly from three to four regular sermons, two or three 
lectures, besides funeral and occasional sermons, and at 
the same time taught three large and interesting Bible 
classes. He was a warm, active, and efficient friend of 
all our religious and benevolent institutions, which were 
greatly indebted to his ardent feelings and uncommon 
business talents for their prosperity and success. 

11 As a preacher, Dr. Armstrong had few equals. He 
possessed a sound and discriminating mind, a warm 
heart, and he seemed to throw his whole soul into the 
subject upon which he was speaking, and constrained 
the hearer to feel that he believed and felt the truths 
which he uttered. As the teacher of a Bible class, he 
excelled. His explanations were clear, simple, and 
forcible. His readiness to meet every objection, and 
solve every difficulty, showed clearly that the Bible was 
a familiar book, while the variety, beauty, and propriety 
of his illustrations proved the extent and value of his 
general reading. Few, very few, who entered his Bible 
class, strangers to the power of the gospel, long con- 
tinued to resist its claims, as they were pressed upon 
them by their beloved teacher. 

" As a pastor, he was untiring in his efforts for the 
good of those placed under his- care. He neglected 



94 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

none ; but his special attention was bestowed upon the 
humblest, weakest, and most afflicted of his flock. He 
could ' rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with 
them that weep ;' and many now in heaven, and many 
who are still on earth, can testify that he had a heart 
to sympathize with them in their afflictions, and soothe 
their sorrows by his counsel and prayers. The first two 
years of our departed brother's labors here, seemed to 
be without fruit, and he began to despond, and doubt 
whether the Lord had called him to this field ; but, to 
use his own favorite expression, ' he encouraged himself 
in the Lord his God/ and labored and pra} r ed the more 
earnestly, and soon the Lord granted the desires of his 
heart in a powerful revival of religion. After a few 
weeks, seventy persons were received into the church 
on one Sabbath. Three interesting revivals of religion 
were enjoyed under his ministry here, in which between 
two and three hundred persons were hopefully con- 
verted. Our house of worship becoming too small to 
accommodate the congregation, he was greatly instru- 
mental in the erection of a large and convenient one, in 
which he preached for several years to an interesting 
church and congregation ; and when he was finally 
called from us to* take charge of the foreign mission 
cause, he enjo}^ed the confidence and affection of his 
people to as great an extent as at any previous period. 
It would be injustice to him to confine the results of his 
labors to his particular church and congregation. This 
whole region of country felt the influence of his labors ; 
and there are but few neighborhoods in Eastern Virginia 
where there are not to be found some fruits of his labors. 
" As a man and a Christian, he was kind, conciliating, 
and humble ; but where principle was involved, he was 
firm as a rock. He was naturally a man of ardent 
temperament and warm feelings ; but his judgment and 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 35 

heart were brought so fully under the power and influ- 
ence of divine grace, that in some very trying circum- 
stances he has been known to bear injury and provocation 
with the spirit q>f his Master. He was also remarkable 
for the transparency of his character ; his freedom from 
guile and management were uncommon. In pecuniary 
matters he was scrupulously particular. I never knew 
him contract an obligation which he did not sacredly 
meet ; indeed, he regarded this as essential to ministerial 
reputation and usefulness. His style of living was very 
plain ; and although his salary was not large, his 
expenses were always brought within it, and I was often 
astonished to see his liberality to religious and benevo- 
lent objects, not supposing that he had the means of 
giving as he did." 

Another still, w r ho had the best opportunity for 
knowing his habits and labors, says : 

" He loved to kneel beside the sick, and attend the 
dying believer to the gates of heaven. How many have 
welcomed him, who were fitted, through his instrumen- 
tality, for that blessed abode ! During the revival in 
1828, he preached from five to nine times a week, 
praying with the anxious sinner, and rejoicing with the 
young convert. Almost every individual composing 
his Bible classes united with the church. His sermons 
were written while others slept. During the sickly 
season of the year, when others retreated to the country, 
he usually remained in Eichmond, attending to the 
poor, preaching at their houses when deaths occurred. 
Many of the ignorant were thus led to the sanctuary. 
The widow and the orphan shared largely in his sym- 
pathies. He thought it important to set before his flock 
an example of Christian simplicity in all things, and to 



36 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

live plainly, in order to contribute largely to the treasury 
of the Lord." 

During his residence in Richmond, in addition to his 
abundant labors among his own people, he was emi- 
nently a public man, one who w r as deeply interested in, 
and ready to labor for, all objects adapted to promote 
the kingdom of Christ and the welfare of men, and one 
to whom such interests were confided. He was Secre- 
tary of the Home Missionary Society of his Presbytery, 
Trustee of the Union Theological Seminary, Manager 
in Temperance, Sabbath School, Colonization, and other 
societies ; regularly attended and took a large share in 
transacting the business of his Presbytery and Synod, 
and aided his brethren in special religious meetings. 
In everything where responsibility w r as devolved upon 
him, he aimed to meet it, and faithfully perform the 
duties expected of him. 

During this period also, that special interest in missions 
to the heathen, which manifested itself in college soon 
after his conversion, was more fully developed. l He 
prayed much for the success of missions; uniformly 
spent a due portion of time in preparing for the monthly 
concert of prayer ; was an example of liberality in his 
contributions, so much so as to surprise those acquainted 
with his limited resources; endeavored to awaken, 
extend, and foster a missionary spirit among his people, 
and had the satisfaction of seeing a number of his spi- 
ritual children go to the heathen. He early became 
known as one who might be relied on to exert a mis- 
sionary influence in that part of the country, and was 
repeatedly invited to engage in agencies for that purpose. 
But the time when his whole soul seemed to be pecu- 
liarly moved for the heathen, and he was, as it were, 
newly baptized with the missionary spirit, was at the 
meetings for prayer for the conversion of the world, 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 37 

held on the first Monday in January, 1833. Standing 
among the ministers, and before the assembled churches 
of Kichmond, with a countenance glowing with love, 
he said, " My brethren, I am ashamed that there are 
so many of us here in this Christian land. "We must 
go to the heathen." " That day of prayer/ 7 says one 
who was present, " made an impression on many hearts 
which was deep and lasting/' This was doubtless the 
way in which God was preparing him to perform the 
labors to which he was soon to be called in connection 
with the foreign missionary work. At the meeting of 
the East Hanover Presbytery, to which he belonged, 
held in the following spring, a resolution was introduced 
and unanimously adopted, expressing the conviction 
that the southern Presbyterian churches were imperi- 
ously called upon to engage more systematically and 
vigorously in the work of missions to the heathen, and 
appointing Mr. Armstrong and the Eev. W. S. Plumer 
a committee to bring the subject before the Synod of 
Virginia, which was to meet in the following October. 
By invitation Dr. Wisner, one of the secretaries of the 
American Board, attended the meeting of the Synod. 
The result was that a series of resolutions, with a con- 
stitution, was adopted with perfect unanimity, and an 
organization begun, which was designed to embrace the 
friends of missions within the three Synods of Virginia, 
North Carolina, and the Chesapeake ; and Mr. Arm- 
strong, with others, was appointed to attend the meetings 
of the two latter synods, and aid in completing the 
organization, which assumed the name of the Central 
Board of Foreign Missions. This he did. The Synod 
of North Carolina acted with the same unanimity. The 
Synod of the Chesapeake failed of having a meeting. At 
the first meeting of the Central Board, in March, 1834, 
all eyes were turned towards Mr. Armstrong as the 

3 



38 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

principal executive officer of the new society, and he 
was accordingly, with the hearty concurrence of all, 
elected its Secretary. During the meeting the following 
resolutions were introduced and unanimously adopted, 
after addresses by Mr. Armstrong and others : 

11 Resolved, That this Board acknowledge, in its full 
force, the obligations of every member of the visible 
church to live for the conversion of the world. 

" Resolved, That all the steps by which this Board 
has been brought into existence, and to its present 
organized state, manifest the kind and special guidance 
and interposition of the God of missions, and call upon 
us for a solemn expression of fervent gratitude. 

" Resolved, That one of the cheering indications of 
Providence respecting our southern Zion is the fact, 
that a considerable proportion of our candidates for the 
ministry have either determined to become foreign 
missionaries, or are seriously considering the claims of 
the hundreds of millions of our unevangelized fellow- 
men. 

" Resolved, That, after we have done all that man can 
do, our whole reliance for success is upon the presence 
and grace of the Holy Ghost ; and that, therefore, the 
necessity and duty of unceasing prayer for help from 
God are most manifest." 

The whole of this movement seems to be traceable 
to that special effusion of the Holy Spirit upon our 
departed brother, in the united meeting of the Kich- 
mond churches on the first Monday in January, 1833. 

From this date a new era in the life of Mr. Armstrong 
commenced. He was to leave a harmonious and affec- 
tionate people, with whom he never stood better than 
at that time; sunder all the ties of the pastoral 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 3D 

relation, the tenderness of which none but the faithful 
Christian pastor knows ; sacrifice, to- a great extent, his 
study, the endearments of home, and the quiet and 
comforts of a settled life. And what was he to receive 
in return ? No honor, no enjoyment — except such as 
are to be had in making greater sacrifices, performing 
more self-denying labor, and encountering various perils 
for the glory of Christ and the salvation of men. And 
to his mind these were enough to compensate for all 
which he relinquished. He shrunk not from the sacri- 
fice, though peculiarly painful to one of his affectionate 
and sympathizing temperament. And his church, 
knowing him too well to question his motives, and in a 
good measure imbued with the same spirit, with a noble 
Christian generosity, though with bleeding hearts, gave 
up their beloved pastor, out of a stronger love to Christ 
and his cause. Mr. Armstrong often said that such a 
trial he hoped never to be called to again. No man 
valued the quiet of home and the endearments of the 
family relation more than he. Yet all this did he 
sacrifice; and, says his surviving partner, "he would 
doubtless have laid down his life, if he could thereby 
have awakened the people of God to prayer and effort 
for a dying world." His connection with his people 
was dissolved on the 6th of May. 

According to an understanding with the newly or- 
ganized society, Mr. Armstrong was immediately after- 
wards appointed the General Agent of the American 
Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions for the 
States of Virginia and North Carolina, and entered on 
his arduous labors about the first of June, 1834. His 
agency was to cover more than one hundred thousand 
square miles of territory, embracing about two hundred 
and fifty churches, most of which had never been 
formally addressed in relation to foreign missions, nor 



40 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

had they, to any considerable extent, ever contributed 
to that object. Writing of this new field of labor, he 
says, " I fully believe that the salvation of our southern 
churches depends upon our engaging thoroughly and 
cordially in foreign missions, and seeking in good 
earnest the salvation of the perishing heathen among 
ourselves." His journeyings, his multiplied sermons 
and addresses, his extended correspondence, and his 
unwearied efforts in all appropriate ways to accomplish 
the objects of his agency, were such as the sentiments 
just quoted, added to his desire for the conversion of 
the world, might be expected to inspire. He was every- 
where most cordially received ; much interest was 
awakened ; and the contributions through that Board, 
within fourteen months after he commenced his work, 
increased to about ten thousand dollars. 

After the decease of the Eev. Dr. Wisner, in Feb- 
ruary, 1834, Mr. Armstrong was almost immediately 
looked to as a suitable person to fill the vacancy, and 
was early consulted on the subject ; and at the annual 
meeting of the Board in the following September, he 
was elected one of its secretaries for correspondence. 
With much self-distrust on his part, and regret at re- 
linquishing the work upon which he had entered so 
prosperously, and in which he had become deeply in- 
terested ; and with great reluctance on the part of the 
ministers and churches in that quarter, he accepted the 
appointment, and removed to Boston in November. 
His department of labor was the home correspondence, 
including the superintendence of the agencies. Incited 
by the same peculiar zeal in the missionary work which 
characterized him while a pastor and carried him 
through his agency, he devoted himself to his new 
duties with exemplary diligence and activity. He 
remained in Boston about two years and a half, until 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 41 

April, 1838, when, in compliance with the advice of the 
Prudential Committee, he removed with his family to 
the city of New York, expecting to remain there for 
only a short period ; but the importance which was 
attached to his labors in that city, together with some 
considerations drawn from the health of his family, 
prolonged his residence there, with the approbation of 
the Prudential Committee, till his decease, though with 
a considerable modification of his official duties. His 
relations with the Committee, however, and his asso- 
ciates in office, and his familiar acquaintance with the 
business and affairs of the Board, were maintained by 
a constant correspondence and attending once a month 
on their meetings. 

Both while in Boston and New York, he was most 
fully and usefully employed in his official labors. 
Nearly every Sabbath found him in the pulpit pre- 
senting, with solemnity and earnestness, and with a 
peculiar pathos, the claims of Christ and of the heathen 
nations ; though it was his delight, when opportunities 
favored, to become, as it were, a pastor again, and plead 
with men in behalf of their own souls. Especially, 
after his removal to New York, was his missionary 
preaching extended through a wide circle. Not only 
in that city, but in other churches of the State and of 
the adjacent States, which the time demanded by his 
other duties would permit him to reach, did he press 
upon the friends of Christ the work of the world's con- 
version. In this respect he performed fully the duties 
of an ordinary preaching agent. Meetings of auxiliary 
societies and ecclesiastical bodies, together with conven- 
tions held for prayer, statements and discussions on 
missionary subjects, called him to travel extensively, 
to address public bodies, confer with a great number of 
individuals, ministers and others, and thus to become 



42 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

personally known very widely, and to exert a great and 
salutary influence in favor of the missionary cause. 
Everywhere his visits, and his statements, and appeals 
were acceptable. All the friends of Christ loved to 
commune with such a man on such a subject. There 
was no controversy, no partizanship, no denunciation, 
no severity. The understanding was enlightened and 
convinced ; the best feelings of the heart were stirred ; 
and there was a heavenly, New-Testament savor in his 
spirit and in all his communications on these subjects, 
which in all places secured Christian confidence and 
cheerful co-operation. 

Mr. Armstrong's correspondence, especially within 
the bounds of the Presbyterian Church, was very ex- 
tensive, all of it bearing on the same great work, and 
pervaded by the same heavenly spirit as his preaching 
and other public labors ; and the influence which he 
exerted by means of it was wide-spread and great. 

To those most intimately associated with him in labor, 
both in Boston and New York, he was truly a faithful 
Christian brother, sympathizing with them in all their 
perplexities and trials; endeavoring to alleviate their 
burdens; bearing with them, counselling them, and 
praying for them ; never tenacious of his rights, and 
always scrupulously careful not to wound their feelings, 
A pleasanter man to co-operate with they could not 
desire. The benevolent, affectionate interest he mani- 
fested in them, and the frankness and loveliness of his 
demeanor in his social intercourse and in transacting 
business with them, — while the impression can never 
be effaced from their memories, — no language of theirs 
can adequately describe. 

But no wide sphere of usefulness ; not his own de- 
light in the work in which he was engaged ; not the 
love and respect which wife and children, and associates 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 43 

hi labor, and the friends of Christ generally, cherished 
for him, could retain him with us, when his Master's 
time for removing him from this vineyard had come. 
Our departed brother left New York on Monday, the 
23d of November, to make his monthly visit to Boston 
and attend the meeting of the Prudential Committee. 
He arrived safely the next morning, and spent that day 
and till the afternoon of the following in perusing com- 
munications from the missions, attending the meeting 
of the Committee, and conferring with his associates, 
as he was accustomed to do. On the twenty -fifth, the 
day of his contemplated return to New York, a storm 
set in with great violence. Eepeatedly during the day 
his associates remarked to him that he ought not to 
venture upon the water in such a tempest; but not 
feeling quite well, and strongly desirous to return to 
his family and spend with them the annual thanksgiving 
which was to be on the next day, he seemed decided 
on going, and replied that he had often found that 
when it was stormy in Boston, it was comparatively 
calm on Long Island Sound. At five o'clock in the 
afternoon of Wednesday, he started from Boston, taking 
the railroad to Norwich and Allyn's Point, where he 
embarked in the Atlantic and proceeded to New Lon- 
don, which place the steamer left, after some detention, 
between twelve and one o'clock on the morning of 
Thursday, November 26. When about nine miles out 
of the harbor, the steam-pipe burst, rendering the en- 
gine useless ; and immediately after, the wind, which, 
had blown from the northeast, changed to the northwest, 
and increased in violence. The anchors were thrown 
out, the decks were cleared, and other measures taken 
■ to lighten the vessel and cause it to ride easier amid the 
terrific raging of the elements. But all was in vain ; 
the anchors were dragged, and the wreck continued to 



44 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

drift towards the leeward shore, the waves continually 
breaking over it. 

Soon after the accident to the machinery the fires 
were extinguished, and from that time the passengers 
suffered greatly from cold and wet, as well as from 
painful forebodings of the issue. This state of things 
continued till after four o'clock on the morning of 
November 27 ; and though God was riding on that 
storm, and a number of those whom he loved were 
tossed in that wreck, and no human arm could inter- 
pose to save, yet the fury of the tempest was not 
abated, till it had accomplished its work of destruction, 
and the fragments of the steamer and the lifeless bodies 
of many of its company were strewed along the shore. 
Our friend Avas among the dead. But it was no mere 
chance that involved him in those perils." God had 
wisely and mercifully placed him there. Survivors 
inform us that he was conspicuous among the passen- 
gers throughout the day and evening of Thursday, as a 
minister of Christ, addressing to his companions in 
danger appropriate religious instruction and consola- 
tion, and commending them to God in prayer. On the 
afternoon of that day, especially, he with about fifty of 
the passengers assembled in the cabin for prayer and 
reading of the Scriptures and exhortation. 

During the whole scene he was perfectly calm, but 
solemn and thoughtful ; eternity seemed to be opening 
before him. Himself and all around him — how many 
of them unprepared he could not know — w r ere standing 
on its brink. For them he was unutterably solicitous ; 
and for his own last conflict he was gathering strength 
in God. Some, seeing the dread crisis rapidly approach- 
ing, drew near and stood by his side, " because," as one 
remarked, " it seemed safer to be near so good a man." 
Just before the wreck broke upon the reef, and the 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 45 

falling deck and the overwhelming waves swept him 
lifeless into the sea, he said to one, "I hope we may be 
allowed, if God will, to reach the shore with our lives ; 
but if not, I have perfect confidence in the wisdom and 
goodness of Him who doeth all things well" This was 
his dying testimony to the goodness of God and his 
own faith in him. The vital spark was probably 
extinguished instantly by the falling timbers. The 
same expression of calm confidence in God remained 
enstamped on his features in death, significant, un- 
doubtedly, of that heavenly peace with which he 
closed life here, and entered on that life where are no 
perils, no anxiety, no suffering, no death. A special 
work had been allotted to him for that last day of his 
life. He had finished it and gone to his reward. He 
had come to Boston a week earlier than usual. Con- 
trary to his general practice, he had taken the Norwich 
route on his return. All seemed to have been divinely 
arranged, so that this chosen and faithful servant should 
be honored with the responsibility of being on board 
that steamer to exemplify the power of the Christian 
faith, and act as God's ambassador to that company in 
those mortal perils. How great was the privilege too, 
to him who loved to preach beyond almost any other 
man, to be permitted in the last hour of life, to unfold 
the gospel to a company whom God, by the dangers of 
the ocean, and an opening eternity, was simultaneously 
calling to prepare to meet him ! 

The remains of our friend were recovered from the 
water, and conveyed to Norwich on Friday afternoon, 
where they were soon recognised by Christian friends, 
humanely prepared for the grave by the municipal 
authorities of the city, and the following day forwarded 
to New York. On Monday, November SO, the funeral 
solemnities were attended in the Eev. Dr. Adams's 

3* 



46 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

church, in Broome-street, with appropriate addresses 
and devotional services. A vast assemblage of Chris- 
tian friends, with the ministerial brethren of the 
deceased, testified how much they loved him, and how 
deeply they felt his loss. 

The Prudential Committee entered on their records 
an appropriate minute, and also requested the Eev. 
Nehemiah Adams, one of their number, to deliver a 
sermon in commemoration of their much respected and 
beloved associate. The sermon was preached on the 
9th of December. 

In contemplating this great and painful bereavement, 
we must not fail to recognize with gratitude the special 
protection which God in his providence has hitherto 
extended to those who have been connected with this 
missionary work, -either as missionaries abroad, or 
laborers at home. From the organization of the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions in September, 1810, to the death of Dr. Arm- 
strong, the number of outward and home voyages, 
between the United States and foreign lands, made by 
persons in the employment of the Board, excluding 
twenty-seven of whose completion intelligence has not 
yet been received, is seven hundred and four. These 
voyages have been made by four hundred and ninety- 
six persons, male and female, not including twelve now 
on their way to foreign lands for the first time. Of 
these voyages actually completed, four hundred and 
sixty-seven have each been from fifteen to eighteen 
thousand miles in length. If those voyages along the 
coast of the United States, on the great lakes, and on 
the western rivers, and those from one port to another 
in foreign countries, varying from five hundred to three 
thousand miles each, are included, and to them are 
added the voyages made by the children of mission- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 47 

aries, the whole number of voyages will exceed one 
thousand ; besides many shorter trips on seas, rivers, 
and lakes. In all these, no individual connected with 
the Board has been shipwrecked, or has lost his life by 
drowning. 

The number of ordained missionaries sent out by the 
Board is two hundred and fifty-three ; physicians, 
twenty ; other male assistants, one hundred and twenty- 
two ; and females, four hundred and fifty-seven ; in all, 
eight hundred and fifty -two ; none of whom, so far as 
information has been received, have lost their lives, or 
been seriously injured, in their journeyings to or from 
their fields of labor, by land or water. Three, — 
Messrs. Munson and Lyman in Sumatra, and Dr. Sat- 
terlee, west of the Pawnee county, — lost their lives by 
savage violence, while on exploring tours; and Eev. 
Mr. Benham, of the Siam mission, was drowned while 
crossing a river near his own house. With these 
exceptions, all the explorations and other journeyings 
of these eight hundred and fifty-two missionary laborers 
have been, so far as can now be called to mind, without 
loss of life or serious accident. 

Going back to the commencement of the operations 
of the Board, none of its treasurers, secretaries, or 
agents, amounting to about fifty persons in all, have, in 
their various and extended journeyings by land and 
water, and in the almost pathless wilderness on the 
western frontiers and the contiguous Indian countries, 
met with any serious accident or calamity, till Dr. 
Armstrong perished in the wreck of the steamer At- 
lantic. 

Thus suddenly, and in a most impressive manner, 
has passed away from among us an eminently good man : 
one whose intelligent and unaffected, yet ever-living 



48 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

and ever-active piety no one doubted or failed to see. 
Towards God, the filial spirit in him was predominant. 
He seemed to be, indeed, a child of God, an Israelite in 
whom was no guile. His affections were eminently 
spiritual and heavenly, and very seldom, if ever, was 
there any thing apparent in the state of his mind, in 
his conversation or demeanor, which was inconsistent 
with his entering at once into communion with the 
Christian on the experiences of the internal spiritual 
life, or with the convicted sinner on the salvation of his 
soul, or with God in confession and praise. Towards 
men he manifested nothing but good nature and love. 
The cast of his features, the tones of his voice, the 
courteousness of his manners, revealed his heart. To 
speak of ill-will, or envy, or selfish or malignant pas- 
sions of any kind, in connection with his name, must 
seem to all who knew him as altogether incongruous. 
In him self-seeking seemed to have no place, while his 
desire to please and benefit all was unbounded, and his 
charity almost literally hoped and believed all things 
favorable of those with whom he had to do. Though 
generally a good judge of character, he sometimes erred 
on this point ; and when he did so, it was almost 
always from his unwillingness to entertain so unfavor- 
able an opinion of men as was demanded. This genuine 
goodness of heart, the combined result of uncommon 
amiableness of natural disposition and the sanctifying 
grace of God, shone with peculiar lustre in the family, 
where he was a model of affection and fidelity as a 
husband and father. Few could love or be loved, 
impart or enjoy so much happiness in those relations, 
as he. His social qualities generally were remarkable ; 
and while he loved retirement and was much in it, he 
also loved to commune with others, and all loved to be 
with him. To the most serious topics he could happily 



MEMOIK OF W. J, ARMSTRONG. 49 

give an aspect of light and joyfulness, or make what 
was sprightly and gay, and even the vein of humor 
which he had at command, the means of instruction 
and serious impression. Cheerfulness and sobriety, 
concern for great interests, with substantial peace and 
joy, were in him most appropriately combined. Natu- 
rally, he was of an animated spirit ; yet there were 
habitual indications that serious topics were occupying 
his thoughts, and sad pictures, drawn from such a world 
as this, were passing before his mind, which often 
clothed him in plaintiveness, and not unfrequently 
called forth an audible sigh. The impression that he 
was a good man was made on all who knew him. 

A laborious servant of Christ, too, has been removed. 
From Mr. Armstrong's entrance into the ministry till 
his last hour, his life was one of assiduous and faithful 
labor. He shrunk from no toil. He was never dis- 
posed to ease himself by burdening others. He obvi- 
ously loved labor for Christ and the salvation of men ; 
and the more of it he was able and permitted to do, the 
greater honor and favor he regarded it. His only regret 
seemed to be that he had no more time and strength to 
expend in such a cause. No interest intrusted to him 
suffered from indolence or neglect. His varied labors 
as an evangelist and a pastor, as an agent and a secre- 
tary, bear ample testimony to this. All were performed 
promptly and heartily, and yet without display, or 
thrusting himself into notice. No man seemed to be 
more truly willing to spend and be spent for Christ, 
and for human welfare than he. It was indeed his 
meat and drink to do the will of Christ and finish the 
work assigned to him. 

A man of much heavenly wisdom has been called away 
from the counsels and labors of the church militant. 
Mr. Armstrong had opinions on matters of theology 



50 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

and morals and politics, intelligently and firmly held, 
and frankly expressed and defended on proper occa- 
sions; but lie knew how to let every one see that his 
mind was not engrossed b} r those points relating to 
theology, or to the welfare of our nation, or of our race, 
which most divide men into parties. His mind appre- 
ciated and all his powers were enlisted in something 
higher and better. To what party, as such, did he 
belong ? With what individual did he have contro- 
vers} r ? He was independently and fearlessly consci- 
entious ; yet whose confidence did he lose, or whom did 
he make his enemy ? His wisdom did not arise from 
uncommon grasp of mind or sagacity ; but the elements 
of it were goodness of heart, honesty and singleness of 
purpose, and trust in God. His love of what was right 
and Christian, his guilelessness and frankness, led him, 
as it were, instinctively, and almost intuitively, to discern 
and aim at the best results, and to pursue them by 
means and in a manner which could hardly fail to con- 
ciliate and secure approbation. This, with his prompt- 
ness and assiduity, enabled him to accomplish his ob- 
jects more surety and effectually than most other men. 

With the countenance and character and labors of 
our beloved brother before the mind, and fondly trea- 
suring up the recollections of that intercourse with him 
which has been so unexpectedly broken off, we would 
close this notice with the language of the apostle James, 
as being eminently descriptive of him whom we com- 
memorate : Who is a ivise man and endued ivith know- 
ledge among you ? Let him show, out of a good conversa- 
tion, his ivorks ivith meekness of ivisdom. The luisdom 
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and 
easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without 
partiality and without hypocrisy. 



CHAPTER IT. 

Dr. Armstrong on the Steamer Atlantic. 

Why was he on board that steamer? He was not 
wont to return to New York by that route. The day 
was tempestuous before leaving Boston, and his kind 
friends remonstrated against his going on that day. 
And why did the Great Head of the Church suffer him 
to go at that time, and in that manner ? Known unto 
God are all his ways. He purposed the winds, the 
waves, the wreck. He saw every tear that should be 
shed — he had measured the anguish and bereavement 
that should wither the souls of so many families. And 
why did he so afflict his dear children, and why expose 
those he loved to such perils and death ? We may not 
fathom all the reasons of the Divine Mind, yet we may 
know some of these reasons. We may take a view of 
that seemingly disastrous event, and of the fatal expo- 
sure of the subject of this memoir, which shall exhibit 
it not as an expression of God's displeasure, but as a dis- 
pensation of his love. Dr. Armstrong was conducted 
on board that ill-fated vessel by the hand of his Divine 
Master. It was the Hand of Mercy which led him 
there. God was about to make one of those terrific 
displays of his power which ever and anon he makes 
to awe into silence both his friends and his foes. In 
this day of confidence and boasting in human skill and 
power — as if man had triumphed over the elements and 
could rule them at his will — when men feel that they 
can go and come as they list — " to-day or to-morrow, 
go into such a city and buy and sell and get again, " 
forgetting who holds the winds in his fists and com- 



52 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

mands the waves and they obey him — when even God's 
people are in unusual danger of feeling confidence in 
human agents and agencies — God would, at such a time, 
by one signal display, vindicate his majesty and teach 
man dependence. But incidental to such a display is 
often an immense amount of suffering and death. 
Many are in the suddenness of a moment hurried into 
eternity. Prepared or unprepared, the awful summons 
comes and there is no reprieve. Such was especially 
the case in the wreck of the Atlantic. It was, there- 
fore, in great mercy that God put on board that vessel 
the subject of this memoir : a man beloved of God and 
greatly esteemed of man, and, therefore, chosen of God 
as the forlorn hope of them who were so soon and so 
suddenly to be called to their final account. Some of 
God's people were there. Perhaps they had, in the 
whirl of business and of pleasure, wandered from the 
fold ; and they were in a moment to be summoned into 
the presence of their Master. How gracious is Heaven 
to give them such a spiritual guide in this hour of their 
severe conflict ! And there were many on that doomed 
vessel who were not prepared to meet the dread sum- 
mons. They were now to be hurried away to the 
Judgment ; and how merciful that He who hath no 
pleasure in the death of the wicked, but would that he 
should turn and live, should put on board one who 
should so faithfully warn them in this last trying mo- 
ment. Perhaps Dr. A. was never before intrusted with 
so important a mission. While the Great Head of the 
Church chose this method of terminating his earthly 
labors, he chose a termination well befitting the whole 
course of his previous Christian life. If his days must 
be shortened and his life of usefulness be so suddenly 
closed, his most partial friends could not have desired 
a more befitting close. His last day, his last hour, and 



MEMOIR OP W. J. ARMSTRONG. 53 

probably his last moment, was spent in the service of 
his God. God would not leave so important a post 
unfilled ; and you might look in vain for a man that 
should fill it so nobly as Dr. Armstrong did. It was 
a post of danger and of dread responsibility. Such 
posts the skilful general fills with tried, faithful, and 
fearless men. So did the Captain of our salvation 
when he had thoughts of mercy towards the sufferers 
on board the Atlantic. How graciously God provides 
till the last for the salvation of his creatures. 

And this is but another instance of that admirable 
providential arrangement by which God is wont to dis- 
perse his people, and place them in situations of useful- 
ness of which they thought not. Christians are the 
light of the world ; and it is not a little interesting to 
see the distribution which he makes of this light — how 
he scatters his people abroad over the earth. Some- 
times they go voluntarily, as business, or pleasure, or 
Christian duty takes them ; sometimes involuntarily, as 
driven by persecution or compelled by some necessity. 
The apostles "were scattered abroad, " and this became 
the means, in the early days of Christianity, of that 
wide and rapid diffusion of the gospel. The Jewish 
church and nation were singularly dispersed, and their 
fall became the riches of the Gentiles. War, com- 
merce, travel, pleasure, misfortune, accident or design, 
have, in every age, scattered the people of God, not 
only among all the tribes and kindreds of the earth, 
but placed them in every conceivable situation where 
they might fulfil their mission as the children of light 
and the almoners of Heaven's mercy. Wherever is 
want, or woe, or ignorance, or suffering, there has God 
provided for its relief an agent of his mercy. The frian 
who fell among thieves, and was wounded, and left for 
dead, was found by the "good Samaritan," who bound 



54 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

up his wounds, pouring in wine and oil. When God's 
judgments are abroad in the earth, he sends his angels 
of mercy in their train, to bind up the broken-hearted, 
to comfort the mourners, to supply the wants of the 
needy, to scatter light amidst the general darkness, and 
speak words of warning and consolation to them who 
are appointed unto death. Nor does it vitiate the bene- 
volence of God in this distribution ; it detracts nothing 
from the wise and gracious providence in the matter, 
that so many of those whom God would have the dis- 
pensers of his mercy, the good Samaritans to the un- 
fortunate and suffering, do through hardness of heart 
and a perverse selfishness, like the priest and the 
Levite, pass by on the other side. Amid the maladies, 
the diseases, the blighting desolations of sin, God 'pro- 
vides the remedy, or, if not a remedy, a relief, and 
man's perversity, in not dispensing the remedy, mars 
not the mercy of the Divine provision. 

But it was not so in the case of the Atlantic. He 
that was commissioned to stand there between the liv- 
ing and the dead nobly fulfilled his mission. Forgetful 
of himself, save as with a confidence worth ten thousand 
worlds, he commits himself and all his interests for 
time and eternity to the safe keeping of his covenant 
God, he addresses himself like a man of God to his 
work. All the words of comfort he spake to the trem- 
bling saints, all the words of warning he uttered to the 
(perhaps for the first time) awakened sinner, we may 
not know till the judgment make its revelations. But 
what we do know crowns his end with a benevolence 
and majesty well befitting a life of such eminent and 
unpretending usefulness. 

So identified were the closing scenes of Dr. Arm- 
strong's life with the wreck of the Atlantic, that we 
need offer no apology for the introduction of the fol- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 55 

lowing sketches of that appalling disaster. These are 
gathered, for the most part, from persons who wrote at 
the time, and who were more than eye-witnesses of 
those dreadful scenes. 

A little volume entitled "The Loss of the Atlantic" 
contains notices of Dr. Armstrong and of the part he 
acted on board that vessel, which properly, belong to 
this chapter. We shall therefore use it freely, and 
thank the writer for his simple and graphic narrative. 

u Dr. Armstrong came to Boston, on the last week in 
November, to attend a meeting of the Secretaries of 
the Board. On Wednesday morning, in leading the 
devotions of the family at the Marlborough hotel, 
where he tarried, he prayed with unwonted earnest- 
ness, that each one might feel their nearness to eter- 
nity, and to be led more in their daily and hourly con- 
duct by things unseen and eternal, so that at all times 
they might have the Lord present with them. He 
afterwards conversed with great emotion of the recent 
departure of beloved missionaries to heathen lands, and 
of the great privilege of being accounted worthy of so 
high calling. 

M That evening he left Boston, in the Norwich train 
of cars, and went on board the Atlantic, where, in the 
most unexpected manner, he found his services deeply 
needed. What opportunities opened to him for words 
of exhortation and comfort during the long hours of 
peril, passed by the passengers and crew of the unfor- 
tunate steamer, and how faithfully he discharged his 
duties, many are alive to make grateful mention. 
After he had led the religious services in the cabin on 
Thanksgiving morning, as has been related, and had 
offered the last public prayer, he begged each one to 
remain upon his knees, and silently give himself up to 



56 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

God, the only refuge of the sinner ; and to do it then, 
as it might be among the last opportunities in their 
season of probation on earth. How many did so, the 
omniscient eye only knows. How powerful the mo- 
tives, under such circumstances, which seem to compel 
the struggling soul to break loose from its earthly hopes 
and dependencies, and look upward to the Father of 
Mercies ! Surrounded by the tempest, the winds and 
waves breaking all around him, where could the trou- 
bled spirit look for safety, but to Him who alone has 
power to say to the agonized feelings as well as the 
raging waters, l Peace, be still ?' 

11 This calm trust in God manifested by Dr. Arm- 
strong, during those hours of terrible apprehension, re- 
assured and comforted many hearts. 4 1 hope/ he said, 

* we may be allowed, if God will, to reach the shore 
with our lives ; but if not, I have perfect confidence in 
the wisdom and goodness of him, " who doeth all 
things well." ' The hearts of the passengers seemed to 
yearn towards him, as towards a father ; they watched 
him closely, and gathered around him whenever he 
spoke. Everywhere he was conspicuous as the Minis- 
ter of Christ, addressing instruction and consolation to 
his heart-stricken companions, and commending them 
to God in prayer. Lieutenant Maynard gave him the 
benefits of his experience in disasters on the sea. He 
bound the Doctor's head with shreds of blankets, and 
directed him how to prepare and make use of his float. 
As the steamer neared the ledge of rocks, and the cap- 
tain called out to every man to cling to what he could, 
expecting her to strike at any moment, Dr. Armstrong 
came up to the stanchion, dragging a heavy door. 
One, who was clinging to the stanchion, begged per- 
mission to attach a rope to the other end of the door. 

* Certainly/ he replied, ' if it will be of any service to 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 57 

you.' He did so, and declares that he felt a sort of 
security in being in company with such a holy man in 
this hour of peril. After a few moments, the Doctor 
said, 1 1 think our safest place is below, in the gang- 
way ; we shall not there have so far to fall/ He then 
placed himself 'midships on the lowest deck, with his 
arm around the stove, near the entrance of the ladies' 
saloon. Immediately after the boat struck, in the fall 
of some heavy fragments, one struck him in the back 
part of the head ; a sea then washed him away. It is 
the opinion of medical men that the blow caused his 
instant death, and that he knew nothing of the agonized 
struggles of the drowning man. With twenty-five 
other bodies, picked up upon the shore, his was carried 
to Norwich. Some who looked upon the calm and 
holy expression of the face suspected whom it might 
be ; his pockets were out, and all his papers being gone, 
he could not be identified in that way : at last he was 
recognized by a young minister formerly an inmate of 
his family, who, happening to be at Norwich, and com- 
ing down to behold the mournful train, recognised the 
cold features of his venerated friend." 

Another writer, one of the sixty-three survivors, has 
drawn the following thrilling picture : 

u By ten o'clock we had drifted to within half a mile 
• of the rocky shore, against which the angry waves 
dashed their foaming crests in majestic grandeur. It 
was a sight as sublime as terrible. Every moment we 
expected would be our last. Hope now began to wane. 
Soon after the steam vessel Massachusetts came near 
us, and, seeing our position and signal of distress, 
checked her headway a little, but soon passed on. 
About eleven another steamer, the Mohegan, was seen 



58 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

coming, which raised our hopes again, but she dare not 
approach within hailing distance, and soon went on her 
way. ' I would give a thousand dollars,' said Captain 
Dustan, l for another anchor.' But another anchor he 
could not have. All hope from human aid now van- 
ished, and our only trust was in God, and to him 
went up devout supplications for deliverance. All as- 
sembled in the cabin ; a portion of scripture was read 
and prayer offered by the lamented Armstrong, in 
which he prayed that we might be delivered from the 
perils of the mighty deep and the pangs of death. 
Another followed, and prayed that, as when our Sa- 
viour went down into a ship with his disciples, and a 
storm arose, he would rebuke the wind and the raging 
of the waters, that they should cease and be calm. 
Prayer is ever solemn ; but never did those present 
find a more awakening echo in their own bosoms. A 
few frail planks and cables separated us from eternity. 
A few moments, and all might be summoned to the 
bar of God. 

" From twelve to five o'clock, p.m., the howling storm 
and tempestuous sea ceased not their wrath. The gale 
had been a hurricane. Onward towards the dread break- 
ers we were drifted. The sun went down, and with it 
the last ray of hope. We were but a few cables' length 
from the deafening breakers ; and the* roaring tempest 
increased in its wild madness. Momentarily Ave ex- 
pected to be dashed upon the rocks. But, though so 
near the rocks and hoping to be cast ashore while day- 
light yet lasted, the hour was not yet come. Our an- 
chors were doubtless entangled in the rocks — the boat 
was nearly stationary. All night the wind blew a 
tornado. Before and on either side the fierce billows, 
increased by the heavy ground swell, like huge levia- 
thans of the deep, seemed eager for their pr-ey. Behind 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 59 

us was the rockbound shore, rugged and black as the 
caves of Eolus. On the deck of our fragile bark stood 
the helpless child and the fond mother, the strength of 
manhood and the fulness of age. The perils of death 
by steam, and death by fire, we had passed. And now 
death by hunger and death by cold confronted us ; or 
should it be a watery grave, or should we be torn 
piece-meal by falling timbers, or amid the rugged rocks ! 
Daylight had gone, and the moon had ceased to lend 
her cheering rays. Darkness had spread her funereal 
pall, and the sublimity of horror was at its height. 

"At half-past four o'clock, on Friday morning (27th), 
a tremendous sea struck her, which made every joint 
and timber in her entire extent tremble and groan as 
in the death-struggle. The cable of a large anchor, 
which had held on so faithfully for a day and two 
nights, parted ; and immediately after the others snap- 
ped like threads, and ashore she went, first striking 
lightly twice, and then hard down upon the rocks. 
This was the crisis of her fate. A tremendous sea 
threw her up to the very top of the ledge, so far up as 
almost to throw her over on the other side. It was 
terrible and heart-rending in the extreme. In five 
minutes after she struck she was in pieces. In these 
five minutes, at least forty -five of her passengers and 
crew were taken from time into eternity. The screams, 
the crash, the war of the sea was dreadful. Over the 
horrors of that awful scene of war and death I would 
draw a veil. The thought of the sufferings of that 
melancholy night oppresses my brain. The howling 
tempest still chills my veins. The crashing of falling 
timbers still makes me shudder. The earthquake roar 
of breakers yet stuns my senses. The fearful grinding 
on the rocks yet grates on my ear. The death shrieks 
of women and children, as they sink in their cabin- 



60 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

coffins into a watery grave, still rend my heart. And 
the solemn knell of that storm- tolling bell, as it pealed 
the sea-requiem of the many noble and loving hearts, 
will for ever ring in my memory." 

Thus wrote one who, in mercy, passed safely through 
the perils of those appalling scenes. He was cast 
ashore by the waves which overwhelmed others in 
death. 

Another more fully delineates that solemn and affect- 
ing scene, when the beloved Aimstrong first became 
known to the passengers — when he was first made to 
feel that a special work was there given him to do. 
With the failure of Captain Van Pelt, of the Mohegan, 
to afford relief, hope sank in the bosom of the sufferers. 
The fearful reality now settled down upon them, that 
their days were numbered, and a dreadful death and an 
awful eternity were but a step before them. And to 
whom should they look in this hour of peril ? Who, 
during these few hours, big with eternal interests, 
should guide their minds to the Great Deliverer, to 
Him who takes away sin ? Armstrong was there. 
God had placed him there — a prophet and a priest, to 
instruct them in the way of righteousness, and, by sup- 
plications and prayers, to present them to the Great 
High Priest, and to intercede for His pardoning mercy. 
Says one of the sufferers who survived : " At that 
time one, whose calm and benevolent face had attracted 
the attention of many, assembled the passengers in 
the cabin for prayer. He said they were in great peril, 
but with God all things were possible ; to Him could 
they alone look for safety, for the winds and waves 
obey him. He referred to that time when the disciples, 
following their Lord into a ship, a great tempest arose, 
insomuch that the ship was covered with waves. And 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 61 

the disciples coming to Jesus, who was asleep, fcried 
out, 'Save us, Lord! or we perish;' then he arose, and, 
rebuking the winds and the waves, a great calm fol- 
lowed. To such refuge must they, too, look in an 
hour like that. He then spoke of the care which God 
had for us : that even as the sparrow shall not fall to 
the ground without his knowledge, nor our very hairs 
be unnumbered, so let us not fear, for we are of more 
value than many sparrows. Thus did he strive to turn 
the minds of those about him to God, the only sure 
refuge in the storm. His fervent prayers ascended on 
high for God to save them from their imminent dangers, 
and to prepare each soul for what awaited them. It 
was Dr. Armstrong, one of the Secretaries of the 
American Board of Missions, a devoted servant of God. 
The clear, calm tones of his voice, reassured and com- 
forted many hearts ; while they touched a peculiarly 
tender chord in the bosom of one who listened. It was 
Lieutenant Maynard. The tones struck him as the 
familiar tones of childhood ; the holy expression of that 
face was one that he had looked upon and reverenced 
years before. He recognized his old pastor, the pastor 
of his boyhood, in Kichmond, Virginia. He sought the 
good man out, and made himself known, and after- 
wards had the satisfaction of doing all in his power 
for his comfort and preservation. Such were the 
.Thanksgiving exercises on board the Atlantic. While 
multitudes on the shore, and not far off from them, 
were peacefully rendering their thanksgivings in the 
house of God that morning, this little band were 
assembled in the cabin of a lurching, straining steamer, 
amid the howling winds, but a plank's breadth between 
life and death." 

Another witness and sufferer in the same scene thus 

4 



62 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

writes to the .Boston Traveller. We may copy an 
extract which will help more fully to delineate the 
whole picture. 

" In reference to Dr. Armstrong, Mr. Leverett says : — 
I first noticed him, soon after the bursting of the 
steam chest, fastening a life-preserver around his body, 
one, which from inquiry, I ascertained that he carried 
with him. (It was not until daylight on Thursday 
morning that the life-preservers belonging to the boat 
were furnished to the passengers.) An entire stranger, 
my attention was attracted by the calm, benevolent 
expression of his countenance. The hearts of the pas- 
sengers seemed to yearn towards him as towards a 
father ; they watched him closely, and gathered around 
him whenever he spoke. When he conducted the only 
meeting held during our peril, of which I was aware, 
his remarks were very brief and pertinent, and uttered 
in a calm, steady tone of voice. He said we were in 
great peril, but to God all things were possible, the 
winds and the sea obeying Him. He reminded us of 
the scene narrated in the 8th chapter of Matthew, 24th, 
25th, and 26th verses ; he opened the Bible and read 
from the 10th chapter of Matthew, the 29th, 30th, and 
31st verses. He then in prayer made most fervent 
appeals to our heavenly Father to save us from the 
imminent peril in which we were placed. When the 
captain called us upon the upper deck, and told us to 
cling to whatever we could, after assisting in rigging 
several doors, I took my stand, clinging hold of a 
stancheon ; soon Dr. Armstrong came up to the same 
stancheon. I asked of him permission to attach a rope 
to the other end of his door, and share it with him. 
{ Certainly, if it will be of any service to you,' was his 
reply. I felt a sort of security in being in company 
with such a holy man in the hour of peril." 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 63 

It was amidst these scenes of appalling interest that 
Dr. Armstrong manfully executed his last mission on 
earth. From the first he was calm, confiding in his 
God, and about his Master's business. His own life in 
imminent peril, himself about to give up his last account 
— and with motives to live stronger than almost any man, 
he is as serenely and diligently spending himself for 
the salvation of others as if he had a long life before 
him. Standing on the verge of eternity, fully con- 
scious of his solemn position, and surrounded by the 
fearful, the anxious, and the agonized, he is careful for 
nothing but to devote his last hours to the benefit of 
his fellow sufferers and to the honor of his God. How r 
morally sublime his position ! Confiding his all into 
the hands of his God, his life, his dear family, his soul, 
the cause he so much loved, he worked on till the 
summons came ; and then he was found with his loins 
girt and ready. Happy man ! no languishing sickness 
consumed him. He felt not the decrepitude of age. 
No tiresome days of inactivity withered his ardent soul, 
"With his armor on and the weapons of his warfare in 
hand, he passed from the conflicts below to the peaceful 
fields above. Often during his Christian life it had been 
remarked of him that he lost no time, but was ever dili- 
gent about the great work given him to do ; so, in his 
death, he lost no time. He took no time to die. One 
short step — one short moment — transported him from 
•the lower to the upper field, where, without cessation 
or loss of time, he commenced his eternal round of 
services in fields more congenial to his high and holy 
aspirations. What a contrast ! He bids adieu to earth 
amidst the strifes of the tempest and the raging of the 
billows. All of earth about him was a wreck ; and his 
earthly relationships are broken up amidst the war of 
the elements, and the shrieks and groans of his wretched 



64 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

fellow sufferers. All is now consternation and woe. 
But with him how soon the turmoil and commotion of 
the elements are hushed ! How soon the wail of anguish, 
ceases to vibrate in harsh tones upon his ear ; and his 
peaceful spirit wings its way beyond the reach of wind 
and storm — where there is no night, no commotion of 
the tempest, no anguish, no tears, no mourning. Jesus 
walked upon those angry waves ; and though he suffered 
his dear servant to be overwhelmed and crushed be- 
neath the wreck, he was there to receive his spirit and 
to conduct him safe to his Father's house. 

On the intelligence of the disaster reaching New 
York, it was said, " A clergyman, by the name of 
Armstrong,' 7 was among the lost. His friends feared 
for his fate. Mrs. Armstrong first learned the news, by 
the cry of the news-carrier beneath her windows. 
When further accounts corroborated their fears, sorrow 
filled the religious community, where he was so well 
known and so deeply beloved. Strong men, unused 
to tears, were seen to weep over his untimely departure. 
But who shall confirm the tale to the afflicted wife and 
family ? This devolved upon Dr. Adams. The wife 
answered to the ringing of the bell ; he took her hand 
in his, and its chill told him how truly she apprehended 
the nature of his visit ; overwhelmed with the burden 
of his painful duty, he could not for a moment speak. 
"The Lord always has prepared me to receive the 
tidings he sends," she said, opening the way for the 
mournful communication. " And I knew not," after- 
wards declared Mr. Adams, M at which most to wonder, 
the mystery of that providence, which had taken away 
the husband and father, in the midst of his usefulness, 
or that power of religious principle which sustained 
the desolated heart of the bereaved." We might well 
expect that she who could say with a degree of resig- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 65 

nation at once triumphant and sublime, on a former 
bereavement at the death of an interesting and lovely 
child, " I rejoice that I had so lovely a child for my 
Saviour, and that he took my loveliest, for he is worthy 
of my best," would meet this greater bereavement with 
that holy fortitude which none can possess but those 
whose heart is stayed on God ; and how greatly is he 
honored by examples like this ! what mother can imi- 
tate it ? what wife can thus glorify her great Lord and 
Master ? 

Dr. Armstrong's body was carried to the city of 
New York on Saturday night. His funeral services 
were on Monday morning at 11 o'clock, at Dr. Adams's 
church in Broome street. The aisles, vestibule, steps, 
sidewalks, and the houses opposite, were crowded by 
the sympathizing multitude, while many went away, 
unable to enter the church. Ministers and friends met 
at the house of the deceased, where a prayer was offered 
by the pastor of the family, Eev. Mr. Eaton. A large 
procession was then formed, to follow the body, which 
was borne on a bier, preceded by the officiating clergy- 
men, Drs. Adams, Skinner, De Witt, Badger, and Mr. 
Eaton. Hon. T. Frelinghuysen, Drs. White, Ferris, 
Spring, Patton, Brigham, Eobinson, A. Morrison, 
Esq., W. W. Chester, P. Perritt, A. G. Phelps, E. T. 
Haines attending as pall-bearers. A solemn stillness 
spread over the vast congregation as the body was 
ushered in and placed in front of the pulpit. Dr. 
Skinner commenced the services by reading the hymn, 
beginning, — 

" Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb, 

Take this new treasure to thy trust, 
And give these sacred relics room 
To seek a slumber in the dust." 

After singing, he read the 90th Psalm. Dr. Adams 



GG MEMOIR OP TV. J. ARMSTRONG. 

then addressed the assembly in a strain of touching 
remark. He was followed by Dr. Badger, who dwelt 
upon the many virtues of the deceased. u It was a 
public calamity," he said, " to the cause of missions and 
all kindred institutions. It would be felt in Persia, 
China, India, as well as amid the islands of the sea. 
Zion was smitten, and the hand of the Lord was upon 
them." Kev. Dr. De Witt led in prayer, while the 
vast throng were in tears. Dr. Cox pronounced the 
benediction. The services being over, the body was 
taken to the Third Presbyterian Church in Newark, 
whose pulpit he had last occupied on earth, where, after 
appropriate services, conducted by Dr. Eddy and Eev. 
N. S. Prince, it was placed in a vault of the church ; a 
numerous and deeply affected assembly were present, 
among whom were some of the most distinguished 
individuals of the State. 

At a discourse delivered at Park Street Church, Bos- 
, ton, by the Eev. N. Adams, by appointment of the 
Executive Committee of the Board, commemorative of 
the late Dr. Armstrong, after speaking of his self- 
denying, arduous labors, of his fervent and excellent 
piety, Mr. Adams tenderly exclaimed, "Dear associate, 
brother, friend ! thy path to heaven has been so radiant 
with glory, that we cannot think of thee among the 
dead, but as gone before us to that blessed home, to 
mingle thy notes of thanksgiving, with those of Worces- 
ter, and Evarts, and Cornelius, thy predecessors in the 
same field of labor." 

" Among the redeemed/' he proceeded, " the departed 
Armstrong would look with peculiar interest on the 
heathen converts; there would he behold the young 
queen of Madagascar, casting her martyr crown at the 
feet of Jesus ; the Persian dazzled by a brighter sun 
than ever shone on the flowery vale of Ispahan ; the 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 67 

Christian, bringing forth fruit in old age ; the Chinese, 
bowing before the great father ; the Hindoo ; the native 
of the Isles, purified from all his pollutions ; the son 
of the forest clothed in a robe of spotless purity. He 
had now seen the King in his beauty, his throne and 
his servants, — this was enough. Courage then, soldiers 
of the Cross ! one of our number has been taken to 
heaven. Let us return to our work with joy. And as 
the passengers on board the Atlantic shook hands but 
a few moments before the fatal stroke, let us pledge 
ourselves to our missionary brethren, to the world, and 
to our Master, that we will engage in our work with 
new diligence, our first business being to save ourselves, 
the next, to do all we can to save others." 

In the death of Armstrong the cause of missions lost 
a faithful servant. He was in labors abundant. A 
large portion of his time was spent in visiting the 
churches, attending conventions, making missionary 
tours, and devising means and plans for deepening an in- 
terest in this great work. In times of extremity, when 
the funds of the Board were low, he freely relinquished 
a portion of his salary. He deeply felt that the real 
success of the missionary work would be graduated by 
the depth of the spirituality of the Church ; and ex- 
pected permanent means for carrying forward this work 
only in the prevalence of genuine revivals of religion. 
No discouragement daunted him— no diminution of 
funds or lack of missionary agents depressed him, 
while the records of revivals brought the intelligence 
that God was increasing the fervent, active piety of his 
Church, 

In the absence of such manifestations, and as diffi- 
culties arose, he would say: " I do not know what we 
shall do unless God pours out his Spirit on the Churches." 
On one occasion he wrote thus to the compiler : " There 



68 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

is, I trust, some increase of missionary feeling in this 
city, and perhaps in the churches generally. Yet we 
are sadly behind the Providence as well as the Word 
of God, in our readiness for prayer and effort in this 
great cause. Unless it shall please God to pour out his 
Spirit more extensively and abundantly than he has 
yet done, the prospect looks dark. Yet he has not 
ceased to chastise, and may Ave not hope, when he so 
rebukes our idolatrous confidence in man, that he 
means to draw us away from our creature dependencies, 
and compel us to put our trust in him, and thus prepare 
us for a blessing. — May it be so." 

But this indefatigable servant began to feel that he 
had tasked his physical powers to their full measure. 

Two weeks before his death, he preached in the third 
Presbyterian Church in Newark, and pleaded the cause 
of missions, with more than his usual eloquence. On 
being asked, at the close of the afternoon service, if he 
could address a few words, adapted to the youth of the 
congregation, he replied: "I am worn out, and if I 
speak again, I must go and lie down," his physical 
strength seeming much exhausted. He spoke again in 
the evening with great earnestness and fervor upon the 
Nestorian revival, and the great necessity of a revival 
here. His words always came with great power, for 
they flowed from a heart deeply imbued with an unc- 
tion from the Holy One. His last public address was 
made just two weeks from the day of his death, at the 
chapel of the Union Theological Seminary, New York. 
A discussion is usually held on every Friday evening 
by the students; and on this occasion the question "Is 
it desirable that Theological Students should decide the 
question of personal duty in respect to the Missionary 
work, at an early period in their course ?" was the sub- 
ject selected. Dr. Armstrong was present, and was re- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 69 

quested to give his opinion. He urged the duty of an 
early and speedy decision for the sake of the souls 
who are perishing every hour among the heathen, and 
for the honor of Christ, whose name and merits we 
should seek to extend far and wide over the whole 
earth. 

Thus suitably closed the public labors of this labori- 
ous and faithful servant. His record is on high ; his 
works follow him. Though years have elapsed since 
he ceased from his labors, he still lives fresh in the re- 
membrance of thousands who once loved to welcome 
him to their homes and to the sanctuaries of their God. 

The Church of Christ felt the bereavement. The 
following record did but reiterate the feeling of many 
a church, and many a benevolent association throughout 
our land. 

At a meeting of the New York and Brooklyn Foreign 
Missionary Society, at the Broadway Tabernacle, New 
York, Dec. 7, 1846, the following preamble and resolu- 
tions were unanimously adopted. 

11 It having pleased Almighty God to remove from 
this life the Eev. Dr. Armstrong, one of the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 

" Resolved, That this sudden and painful dispensation 
is to be regarded as a public bereavement, demanding 
the most serious attention, profound humiliation, and 
prayerful improvement on the part of the friends of 
missions. 

11 Resolved, That the fidelity, zeal and devotion, with 
which this beloved servant of Christ has discharged 
his official duties, his cheerful self-denial, indefatigable 
labors, fervid appeals, and assiduous industry on behalf 
of missions, while they furnish us with the best evi- 
dence that he has entered upon the joy of his Lord, 

4* 



70 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

combine to make his departure an occasion of unfeigned 
grief to all who know his worth and cherish his memory. 

"Resolved, That the cause of Foreign Missions being 
the cause of Him who has all power in heaven and on 
earth, and who has graven the church on the palms of 
his hands, no event, however disastrous, should be suf- 
fered to diminish or relax our exertions in this great 
undertaking ; and moreover, as chastisements are em- 
ployed by the great Head of the church, for the benefit 
of the churches and communities as well as of indivi- 
duals, we would seriously regard these successive afflic- 
tions which have befallen the American Board, in the 
removal of so many of its prominent executive officers, 
as means designed and adapted to deepen our sympa- 
thy and augment our love and effort in behalf of that 
cause to which our deceased brethren were so zealously 
devoted, remembering the words they spake unto us 
while they were yet with us. 

"Resolved, That the Executive Committee of this 
Society be requested, as soon as possible, to make ar- 
rangements for the improvement of this afflictive dis- % 
pensation of providence, by a discourse, and other ap- 
propriate religious exercises. 

" Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, signed 
by the President and Secretary of this Society, be trans- 
mitted to the widow and family of Dr. Armstrong, with 
the expression of our sincere condolence, and most af- 
fectionate Christian sympathies. 

" Resolved, That the above resolutions be published 
in the New York Observer, the New York Evangelist, and 
other religious papers. 

"Signed, 

"P. Perrit, President 
" A. Merwin, Rec. Sec." 



. MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 1l 

A great and a good man has fallen ; but lie fell with 
his armor on, at the post of danger, working while his 
day lasted. While we wonder that he, whose pious 
services seemed so needful to the church on earth, 
should have been thus taken, we know not how great 
the work he might have wrought on the last day of his 
life, when the very elements seemed combined to add 
power to his instructions, or how wide and blessed is 
the sphere elsewhere, in which the Lord had need of 
his ministrations. Let us ask ourselves, if we possess 
that confidence in God, that sweet assurance of his love, 
which will fit us calmly and steadily to meet the emer- 
gencies of life and the suffering and issues of death ; if, 
like our venerated friend, we are or shall become living 
epistles, known and read of all men, of the value of 
faith and prayer above all that the world can give : thus 
honoring the doctrine of God our Saviour, and winning 
souls to his holy kingdom. 



CHAPTER III. 

Further notices of Dr. Armstrong — Rev. J. C. Smith, "Washington Citr. 

Among the notices of Dr. Armstrong which appeared 
at the time, perhaps none gave a more complete and 
accurate portraiture than the one prepared by the Rev. 
John C. Smith, of Washington, and delivered at the 
Monthly Concert of Prayer in the Fourth Presbyterian 
Church. While it very beautifully illustrates some of 
the happiest traits of the character of the departed as a 
man, it seems, in other respects, the very echo of the 
voice which had been silenced in the wreck of the 
Atlantic. Though dead, he yet speaks in accents fa- 
miliar to the ears of those who used to hear him with 
so much delight. Is it not Armstrong, still pleading 
for a dying world? Are not the tones, the spirit, the 
sound scripture theory of Christian missions, the holy 
pathos with which duty is urged — are not these the 
true echo of the voice which had but recently died 
away amid the deafening surges of the ocean ? And 
was not the sainted spirit present at that meeting? 
May there not be such a communion of the spirits of 
God's children, that the sentiments uttered by a dear 
friend of the departed, may be received as the senti- 
ments of the departed yet the present one ? The me- 
lancholy intelligence from the Atlantic was yet fresh in 
every mind. Sadness had come over many a heart, 
and in their sadness and depression the numerous 
friends of Missions and of the prematurely removed 
Secretary f had been and told Jesus. And is it strange 
— improbable, that, as " they talked together of all 
these things which had happened — while they com- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 73 

mimed together and reasoned" as to why such a thing 
should be, not only Jesus should draw near to them 
and speak words of comfort, but that their recently 
departed friend and brother, the newly entered into 
glory, should be allowed to hover about a place so con- 
genial to his soul while living, and doubly dear since 
dead. Hereafter we may learn that the spirits of de- 
parted friends who have been closely joined by the ties 
of holy love, do commune with, do communicate to, 
kindred spirits who are yet in the flesh. 

The following paragraphs are more particularly 
valuable, as accurately delineating the feelings and sen- 
timents of the beloved Armstrong in his missionary 
character. They pay, too, a deserved tribute to another 
of the victims of the ill-fated Atlantic : — 

"Among the passengers and crew who met death in 
the cold waters of Long Island Sound, were more than 
one whom we had respected and loved. One who had 
mingled with us in the services of this sanctuary, after 
an absence of two or three years, was just about to see 
his beloved wife and their four lovely children, and 
when almost at home, perished in that howling storm. 
He had escaped all the perils of the sea, and the dis- 
eases of the climate ; when all was past, and he almost 
saw his wife and little ones, he was swept away into 
eternity ? Dr. Charles A. Hassler is no more. You, 
my brethren, will sympathize with that widow and her 
children. You love her too much, to think of aught 
else. Let your expressions of sympathy be in accord- 
ance with that love. 

"But there was another passenger on that boat, 
familiar with all the perils of that dangerous passage, 
for he had been for years exposed day and night, who, 
with many others, passed away. You know whom I 



74 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

mean, for you well knew and loved Eev. Dr. William 
J. Armstrong, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M. For 
many years he had served the church of Grod in this 
relation ! His official duties required him to be in 
Boston once a month. He had been there at the usual 
time, had finished his business, and was on his return 
to his office and family in New York. Little did his 
brethren think, at the adjournment of their meeting, 
that they should no more assemble for prayer and con- 
sultation about the interests of the heathen world ! 
They, like him, are devoted men, wholly consecrated 
to Grod, and live knowing that the present is all uncer- 
tain ; but it never, in all probability, passed through 
their minds, that death would come to any one of them 
as it came to Dr. Armstrong. When he said farewell 
to them in Boston, who would have thought that their 
next greeting would be in heaven? Painful, yet de- 
lightful thought ! ( Even so, Father, for so it seemed 
• good in thy sight/ In that terrible gale of the 26th 
and 27th, the steamer Atlantic was awfully wrecked, 
and our beloved brother went from the crashing and 
crushing of the noble vessel, to the home of eternal 
calm, and blessedness, and joy, and glory. 

We have read to you the shipwreck of the Apostle 
Paul. Has it ever occurred to you, why is this record 
preserved ? It has been, and will be preserved. Grod 
hath done it. It possesses a peculiar interest, especially 
at a time like this. Expunge it from the record, and 
you take away from the bereaved family, the church, 
the country, and the world, one of the brightest illus- 
trations of Grod's special providences. I assure you, my 
brethren, that I now read it with new interest, gratitude, 
and love. Here I know, that however terrible the 
storm, Grod is there, not merely because he is every 
where, but he is particularly there. There is something 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 75 

more in this, than that God takes care in general of the 
lives of his creatures — much more He was present with 
his servant to cheer, sustain, and enable him in that 
dreadful time to do his Master's will. Who of all that 
company spoke out, and who became the director of 
all that exposed band ?— the prisoner whom the centu- 
rion's guard were conducting to trial ! Whose voice 
was heard above the angry roar, and whose influence 
was greater than the commander's ? Paul's. The Apos- 
tle was the man, because he was the servant of God, and 
God was with him ! What are storms, and tempests, 
and rocks, and wrecks to God ! He holds the winds 
in his fists, and directeth in the storm ! Life and death 
are at his disposal, and he doeth according to his wise, 
gracious, sovereign will. It is the Lord ! We recog- 
nise God in the whirlwind and storm ; and amidst all 
that occurs, know that he doeth all things well. In 
one painful respect, the wreck recorded in this chapter 
and that of ' the Atlantic ' differs. Paul was saved and 
all the company ; while in this our beloved brother 
Armstrong was lost, and many others with, him ! But 
the passage before us, after all this exception, retains 
its own place, and furnishes its own consolation. l In 
thy light we see light. 7 

" I have invited you here, this evening, to improve 
the dispensation which has reached so many hearts, 
because this is the evening set apart for prayer for 
missions. The time to meditate upon this bereavement, 
is at least most appropriate ; for nothing could have 
occurred, which would have affected more seriously this 
cause. The influences on us, are not all depressing ; 
there is light, strong, beautiful and comforting light in 
this darkness. So that while we are ready to say that 
missions have sustained a severe loss, we are now ready 
to say, that the cause is in the eternal purpose of God, 



76 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

and cannot therefore be affected by the loss of its sub- 
ordinate agencies or instrumentalities. We, my breth- 
ren, are to regard ourselves and all others, as dispensable 
agents, to be relieved at any time and in any way that 
the infinite wisdom of the Chief Missionary may suggest. 
We have selected this evening as §te time for meditating 
upon this great theme, viz., that all the agencies and 
instrumentalities are merely secondary. 

TRUE THEORY OF MISSIONS. 

The cause of missions is in the purpose, councils, and 
plans of our covenant God, and living, our beloved 
brother acted on this, and dying, if a moment of con- 
sciousness was afforded, it was his solace, and all above 
was light, and covenant love. The idea of missions is a 
very simple one, and is best expressed, in short, by 
saying, it is an errand of mercy and salvation. We 
often think and speak of missions as man's device, and 
treat the subject accordingly ! Hence many neglect it 
wholly. Others will attend any and every other meeting 
but' a missionary meeting, and speak of it with great 
coldness and indifference, if indeed they speak of it at 
all. There is in such a want of intelligent views, 
enlarged mind, or an absence of the spirit of our Lord 
Jesus, and I am most happy to restate the proposition 
for our consideration, that ' Missions are in the councils, 
purpose, and plans of our covenant God. 7 

" Why, what is the love of God but this ! What the 
gift unspeakable ! — what the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ ! what all his groans, sorrows, agonies, and death 
upon the cross ! but this, ' God so loved the world.' 
'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he 
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for 
our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 77 

whole world ?' What is the organization of the church, 
the continued gospel ministry, but so many parts of 
this one great missionary scheme of salvation from God 
to man ? And then, as if that were not enough, the Lord 
Jesus said, l it is needful for you that I go away, but if 
1 go away I will send the Comforter to you.' The 
Holy Spirit is the invisible Divine mission agent from 
the throne of thrones — the throne of grace ; and every 
sinner converted, and every Christian saved, are but 
the fruits of this great missionary plan of grace and 
glory. 

" The simple plan of missions is, that those who love 
and enjoy blessings from God, send and communicate 
these blessings to those who have them not. On this 
principle God himself acts, and all who have any of his 
spirit or likeness. Hence l to do good and to commu- 
nicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well 
pleased. 7 Jehovah is the one great, eternal source of 
blessings ; and these he continually dispenses abroad, 
and therefore his entire gift of grace is one vast mis- 
sionary heart and treasure, out of which he liberally 
supplies the whole world. When God was manifested 
in the flesh, and just as he was about to return to glory, 
he issued his commission to the Church, ' Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, and 
lo I am with you, even unto the end of the world. 

" The Church now is ' the salt of the earth,' 'the 
light of the world,' and is essentially a missionary society, 
and commissioned to bear the glad tidings of great joy 
round the world. Every spot where human beings are 
found, is the point to which efforts are to be directed, 
for God designs to save the world through the instru- 
mentality of the Church. l Ye are my witnesses,' saith 
the Lord. We are to show forth the perfections of Him 
who hath called us from darkness into light, and the 



78 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

Church never will possess the spirit of her Lord, until 
all this is understood and appreciated, and each of her 
sons and daughters be consecrated to God in the work 
of conversion and salvation. Oh, that we may be 
imbued with this spirit, and our love and zeal be burn- 
ing before God continually ! 

" The work of missions, we repeat, is the work of 
God to be accomplished through agencies and instru- 
mentalities, called into requisition from time to time. 
These may be changed at any time, reformed, or disused. 
They are only secondary. In this connexion we find 
the American Home Missionary Society, and others ; 
last, but not by any means least, ' The American Board.' 
This Board has about it the least possible machinery, 
and conducts its vast plans with the least possible ex- 
pense. The Secretaries uniformly write and speak of 
the Board as the agents of the churches, associated to 
do whatever the churches may agree and determine 
shall be done. Perfection in its plans and operations 
has never been claimed. But all these are marked with 
great wisdom, prudence, and foresight. Great and glo- 
rious have been the results, for which every Christian 
heart must praise and magnify the Lord. The brethren 
on whom is devolved the responsibility of conducting 
our affairs, ever declare their weakness in grasping the 
great subject of Missions, and freely confess that theirs 
is but humble co-operation with God, and that if they 
die, or even withdraw, the magnitude and importance 
of the work will remain. Their work and ours is 
identical. They distribute what we appropriate. They 
are but almoners of our bounty to a guilty and ruined 
world. 

Were the American Board disbanded altogether, it 
would not touch the great principle of its organization; 
or if all men were to unite and refuse to do anything 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 79 

in the work of missions, we could no more affect the 
divine cause, than we could scale the throne, or over- 
turn the government of God. The Board is but one 
member in the body ; if peradventure it suffer, all the 
members united suffer with it. Because he who sits 
therein is c King of kings and Lord of lords,' and he 
will accomplish all his plans. None can stay his course. 
He will ride on, conquering and to conquer. Who will 
rejoice in his triumphs, or be crushed in his power? 
His is the kingdom, and the power, and glory, for ever, 
and ever ! Amen ! 

"In accordance with the views exhibited, are we to 
regard the living and dying of trie friends and agents, 
in conducting the work of missions? The work is 
immortal, because divine. Its laborers here are creatures 
of a moment, and at any time may resign their breath. 
It becomes all to work while it is called ' to-day,' the 
night cometh, &c. Take the scriptural view of missions, 
and we will live in and labor for them. They are but 
an extended view of the gospel ministry, in which, 
ministers and Christians are multiplying themselves all 
over the world, and sowing the seeds of righteousness 
and peace in all the earth. 

" The views now submitted, I know were those 
entertained by our late beloved brother, and his whole 
life corresponded with, them, for never did man give 
himself more unreservedly to any work than he did to 
this, in which he lived and died. To my mind, the 
work has an additional interest in the death of Dr. 
Armstrong. He loved it even unto his death, and his 
parting prayer would naturally be that the whole earth, 
may be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the 
waters cover the sea." 



80 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 



dr. Armstrong's labors. 

11 To most of those present, Dr. Armstrong was best 
known as a Secretary of the American Board ; and we 
shall speak of him first as thus employed. *I have 
known him in all the relations of life. In my ordina- 
tion in Portsmouth, Va., he was a member of the East 
Hanover Presbytery, and laid his hand upon my head. 
He, in the name of Grod and the Presbytery, delivered 
to me the solemn charge, on entering the whole work 
of the ministry. Never can I forget that occasion — 
that scene, that charge, that beloved brother ! Oh 
how earnest he was ! With what emphasis did he charge 
me to be faithful unto death ! How his heart spoke to 
mine ! In that service a link was formed but never 
broken till the dreadful wreck of the Atlantic. He has 
entered into his rest, while I toil on ; and in the spirit 
of that charge, desire to be faithful as he was, until 
with him, I enter into the joy of my Lord. At the 
time of my ordination just spoken of, he was the Pastor 
of the First Presbyterian Church, Eichmond — a noble 
church indeed — it was as a city set upon a hill. Its 
light was radiated in every direction, and enlightened 
and comforted many a feeble band laboring up to per- 
manency and self-support, and shedding its light all 
over the heathen world. 

" This charge Dr. A. resigned about twelve years ago, 
and became Secretary mt the Central Board of Foreign 
Missions. He travelled much through Virginia, and 
North Carolina, and Maryland, &c. &c, and encountered 
dangers, trials, difficulties, till 1835, when he was ap- 
pointed one of the Secretaries of the American Board. 

" In all this time, I have known him intimately. He 
has visited me and my people annually. His regard 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 81 

and affection for me were seen in my appointment to 
a place in the Board, as a corporate member— the most 
distinguished honor to which I could aspire. Unex- 
pected, never thought of, the manner in which it was 
done made it so much more agreeable. 

" His department was domestic correspondence with 
pastors and churches, and raising of funds on a given 
field, embracing our city, and other Southern churches. 
He was untiring — working all day, and travelling all 
night, and he lost his life in this way. He was not 
with his family more than three months in the year. 
He constantly preached for his cause, and labored with 
and for his brethren in their churches. He had great 
power of physical endurance, and always taxed his 
strength to the utmost. His zeal never cooled. He 
never was weary in his work — certainly not of it. 

" His duties called him to speak much of money, 
and adopt plans to raise it ; but he had no secular taint. 
He lived above all such influence, and asked for and 
received money because it was the Lord's, and con- 
sidered himself the mere distributor. This was a very 
prominent trait in his character and labors. This was 
so, because he was pre-eminently a holy man. Not that 
which expends itself in weeping, or penning beautiful 
sentences in a diary or a letter ; but acquired in com- 
munion with Grod, and developed in a consistent life. 
He lived, he walked, with God, and the more holy he 
became, the more consecrated he was to his appropriate 
work. My brethren, you will remember how full of 
heaven he was in his two last visits to us. I felt it 
good to be with him. All absorbed he was in preach- 
ing Christ to all the world, and have the churches share 
with him in his joys and blessing to all mankind. The 
children and youth of the church will call to mind his 
eloquent address to them, at the anniversary of the 



82 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

Junior Missionary Society. Will not that society be 
more holy in heart and life, and do more, much more, 
for the Nestorians ? I have never known any man 
who gave himself more entirely to his work than Dr. 
A. It was all the time. At home, abroad, in his office, 
in conversation, in the car or steamboat — everywhere, 
he carried with him this spirit of consecration. The 
longer he lived, the more he accomplished — the more 
pure and ardent his desires became. Even now, as I 
speak, I can see him in his place at the meeting of the 
Board last September, in New Haven, and as he was 
on board the steamboat in which we came together to 
New York. As he lived, so he died, in the discharge 
of duty, while exposed to death on the boat. What a 
beautiful testimony to the power of religion ! This man 
of God was the man to speak to his fellow passengers 
in their solemn crisis. 

" The amount of his writing, speaking, preaching, 
and travelling, cannot be appreciated. He never spoke 
of what he did, only of what he wanted to do ; but the 
amount must have been very large — for he was never 
idle, and scarcely ever sick or even unwell. But his 
memorial is with God, and his reward is here. 

" I knew Dr. A. as a pastor in Eichmond — one of 
our own elders knew him as such in Trenton, N. J., 
before he went to Eichmond ; and he blesses God that 
through him he was converted to God. As a pastor, 
he was untiring, and faithful, and laborious. He was 
blessed with revivals, and had a wide influence in the 
councils of the church. 

" I knew Dr. A. at home, in the bosom of his family, 
in Eichmond, and New York. He gave me a home for 
two weeks when I was begging money to build this 
church. He lived in the plainest and simplest manner. 
His furniture was of the most ordinary sort, and his 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 83 

children clad with cheap but comfortable apparel. His 
salary was a bare support, and required economy to 
make it sufficient. He had nothing over — for his hand 
was open, as was his heart. Man was not informed of 
the extent of his benefactions. These are remembered 
before God. He ordered his household in the fear of 
God. Now I can hear him, his wife, and their little 
children, repeating each a verse at their morning devo- 
tion. God was there. That home was one of the 
points of light, in that dark, that wicked city of New 
York. At home he had no idle time. He was reading, 
or working, or employed in some way for God. The 
inmates felt, while there, that life was short, and much 
was to be accomplished, and that that family was striv- 
ing to do all that in them lay. His wife, now a widow 
in desolation, was a kindred spirit. I speak deliberate- 
ly when I say, I never saw any woman whose heart 
was so deeply in the work of missions as this now sadly 
bereaved sister. This was the theme of her conversa- 
tion at all times. Now she is alone. She will feel that 
the cause has received her only treasure. She had con- 
secrated herself, her children, and now her husband is 
gone — sealing their mutual attachment to this divine 
work of spreading the gospel round the world. The 
mother and their five children are now left, in new cir- 
cumstances, to prove the value of the covenant of God. 
Nor will they be disappointed. God is faithful. He . 
will perform ; and I am fully persuaded that this lone 
widow will be provided for, as others have been, and 
God will be their God for ever and for ever. 

" Dr. A. was remarkably free from a worldly spirit. 
He was very uniform in his habits, and rather reserved, 
but still disposed to conversation. In all those which I 
have had with him alone, or in common with others, 
he appeared very free from a worldly spirit. He had 



84 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

no sectional feelings and prejudices. He was born in 
New Jersey, and lived and preached the gospel there. 
The first part of his ministerial life was in Virginia and 
the South. His removal to the North did not lessen 
his interest in, or affection for the South. The world 
was his country, and for that he lived and labored. 
He was in the world, but not of the world. * * * 

" As a friend, I loved Dr. A. I had the most implicit 
confidence in his sincerity. He was honest ; and when 
he gave an opinion or counsel, you might receive it as 
sincere, and the best his judgment could form. I would 
have as soon trusted that judgment as any man's I have 
ever known. Years of intimate friendship had increased 
my affection for, and confidence in him. * * * * 

" The cause, my brethren, is the same. This event 
should make it dearer in our hearts, and over this event 
we should make a fresh consecration of ourselves to God. 
It is the cause of Jesus ! for which he lived and died, 
and for which he now intercedes; Identify yourselves, 
then, with it, and ' be ye holy, for I am holy.' As a 
means, too, of growth in grace, we are to cherish this 
cause. It expands our hearts, raises us above all sel- 
fishness, and in it we act upon the plan before the mind 
of Jesus himself — the world. 

"Let ua improve this visitation, as a season of great 
personal holiness, and a means of growth in grace." 

Dr. Armstrong w^s a strong man. Though meek 
and ever unpretending, he was mighty through God to 
the pulling down of strongholds. He possessed many 
of the elements of true greatness and of power. But 
where lay his power and his greatness? They lay in 
his moral character. He was eminently a man of God. 
He had power with God as an angel. He was a man 
of prayer. All his hopes of success and of permanent 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 85 

prosperity in the work of missions lay in his strong 
faith that it was the work of God. This strong faith 
dictated his supplications at the throne of grace, and 
enabled him to come with a holy boldness and a filial 
confidence which expected no denial. The intimate 
friends of Dr. Armstrong were delightfully impressed 
with this feature of his Christian character. He 
walked with God; he was much before the mercy 
seat. We have, recently, somewhere, seen a very 
pleasant testimony to this fact. A gentleman in New 
Jersey, a friend of missions and of the late secretary, 
was in the habit of calling occasionally at his room, 
and often was it abundantly apparent that he had 
called his friend from the posture of prayer, and 
interrupted his supplications with his God. And so 
testify others, who had occasion to visit his room. He 
spent much time in prayer. He drew his strength from 
the God of Jacob. He went out from the place of his 
sanctuary clad in the armor of the upper Temple. His 
arm nerved with Heaven's might, he drew the bow of 
strength and shot no adventurous arrow. He spoke 
with power. It was the power of goodness. He pleaded 
the cause of a dying world eloquently, for he spake as 
his heart was warmed and moved by Heaven's benevo- 
lence towards this dying world. He felt his theme — 
he was inspired by the greatness of the thought which 
devised a scheme of mercy for this ruined world. Like 
the soul of his master, his soul glowed with a divine 
compassion for the perishing, and out of the abundance 
of his heart he eloquently spoke. Many a church will, 
for a long time to come, cherish a most affectionate re- 
membrance of him as an organ of the American Board. 
He pleaded the cause so kindly, so fervently, so evangeli- 
cally, as greatly to commend him to the love of God's 
people. He labored, not for a particular department 

5 



86 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

of Christian benevolence, but for the kingdom of 
Christ. 

The pastors and churches in the city of New York 
were greatly indebted to Dr. Armstrong. He did 
much there to elevate the spirit of Christian piety and 
benevolence ; and especially did he a good service in 
originating the Monthly Missionary Meeting for prayer, 
and the communication of missionary intelligence pre- 
paratory to the monthly concert. This meeting has, up 
to the present time, been attended in the city with the 
most salutary results. It is held on the afternoon of 
Monday, when the secretary or agent, residing at New 
York, presents the most recent intelligence. The 
Monthly Concert follows in the evening, when this in- 
telligence is communicated to the several churches in 
New York and Brooklyn. 

But when we say that Dr. Armstrong's power and 
greatness lay in his moral character, we do not mean 
that he was wanting in, or that he possessed but a me- 
diocrity of intellectual strength. He was a man of a 
fine literary taste, which, especially in the earlier period 
of his public life, he carefully and successfully culti- 
vated ; and he possessed a mind of no common order. 
And, had his pursuits, in after life, led him to cherish 
his literary predilections and seek intellectual pre-emi- 
nence ; or rather, had his views of the office of a New 
Testament minister been such as to allow him to aim at 
eminence in the literary and intellectual world, he pos- 
sessed the capabilities of compassing such an end. But 
with him literature, science, intellectual attainments, 
possessed little worth except as they conduced to make 
him a more simple, fervid, and effective preacher of the 
gospel. " To preach Christ," says one who knew him 
well, " was so entirely the business of his life, that his 
sermons are often destitute of those literary attractions 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 87 

which are so much admired." Yet, as a preacher, he 
secured, in his public administrations, the highest ends 
of intellect. He so prepared his sermons, and so de- 
livered them, as to bring the truths he uttered in con- 
tact with the minds of his hearers, and to lodge them 
there. He was a happy example of a chaste and well 
applied taste, and a consecrated intellect. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Dr. Armstrong as a Pastor, Preacher, <fcc. 

Dr. Armstrong has already been referred to as a pas- 
tor. In no position, perhaps, did he feel more at home, 
and for the duties of no other office was he more pecu- 
liarly fitted. As secretary of the Central Board of Mis- 
sions he will be long and affectionately remembered as 
a faithful and indefatigable agent, as the kind and sym- 
pathising friend of the pastor, as the honest and ardent 
advocate of a great and good cause. He was a welcome 
visitor to the churches, and thousands will bear a will- 
ing testimony to the salutary influences he left behind 
him. And as Secretary of the American Board, he was 
in journey ings and in perils oft, in labors abundant ; 
a judicious, active and successful co-worker ; a safe and 
valuable counsellor, and a fast friend. In all his rela- 
tions, in his official station, he was not only most impli- 
citly confided in, as a valuable and wise coadjutor, but 
he was greatly beloved as a friend. The feeling of the 
missionary, of the agent, of his co-secretaries, of every 
lover of missions, was that he had lost a friend. 

Dr. A. being known more extensively in his rela- 
tions to the work of missions, it is natural that his cha- 
racter should be estimated according to the value set 
upon him in this connection. Nor was he too highly 
estimated in this respect. Yet we apprehend that his 
tastes and qualifications were more those of the good 
pastor than of the agent or the secretary. His forte 
was before the popular assembly as a preacher, and in 
the discharge of the various duties of the pastorate. 
What has already been said we think abundantly shows 
this. Not a few yet living rise up to call him blessed, 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 89 

for the untiring fidelity and tenderness with which he 
discharged the duties of the pastoral office. The fol- 
lowing brief letters indicate the manner in which he was 
wont to console the afflicted : — 

TO MISS E. D. 

"Richmond, December 11th, 1832. 

" My dear Sister : — 

11 1 sympathise with you in that sore trial which 
presses you down, that I may be able to console you. 
Yet what can I do ? I can but stand as a guide post to 
point 3 7 ou to Him who alone has power to bind up and 
to heal. 

11 1 fear you are looking too much to me. If so, I 
have little hope of being able to do you any good. It 
is my Master's prerogative ' to give beauty for ashes, 
the oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of praise 
for the spirit of heaviness ;' and he is 'jealous of his 
honor, and will not give his glory to another/ Many 
a time, I doubt not, Christians find means and ordi- 
nances barren, because they rest in them, instead of re- 
garding them merely as channels through which a gra- 
cious God condescends to pour his grace into the thirsty 
soul. ' My soul, wait thou only upon God,' should ever 
be the language of our hearts. There are in the pre- 
cious book of God topics of consolation, rich and nume- 
rous, and adapted to all the wants and sorrows of his 
people, while they are pilgrims in this vale of tears. 
Let me suggest some of them, and let your heart be 
lifted up in prayer, for that blessed spirit of promise 
who is styled ( the .comforter,' and whom our Heavenly 
Father is more ready to give to his children when they 
ask, than earthly parents to give bread to their children. 

" Consider then, my sister, who has sent this afflic- 
tion. I w r as dumb, said one, I opened not my mouth, 



90 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

because Thou didst it. Is not this enough ? Does a 
sparrow fall to the ground without our Father? and 
shall we repine at his dealings? Is he not just, and 
wise, and good ? Would not any change in his dis- 
pensations be for the worse? How little do we know 
the connexions, and what shall be the ultimate results, 
of those events which now seem to us the most dark 
and distressing ; and this is as true of events brought 
about by the agency of Satan, or of wicked men, as of 
any others. The crucifixion of Christ was probabl}', at 
the time, matter of overwhelming grief and sorrow to 
all his disciples, yea, of astonishment to angels. ' Yet, 
while some of the actors in it probably sealed their own 
perdition, it was the greatest source of blessings to the 
world of sinners. So, too, when Joseph's brethren sold 
him into Egypt : they committed a great sin, they meant 
it for evil, but God meant to do great good by it. And 
shall we not submit to his will? Shall we not acqui- 
esce in his wise and holy dispensations? And these 
remarks apply as well to all the circumstances as to the 
event itself. Because God's superintending providence 
orders time, and place, and manner, as well as the event. 

11 Your relative was taken out of the world in the very 
way which Infinite Wisdom chose. Now is he God? 
Your God? Your Father in Christ Jesus? And will 
you not say, Thy will be done ? Are you not willing 
to let God do as he pleases ? Shall we let our feelings 
rise up in opposition to his glory, and the good of his 
kingdom ? 

" While our friends are with us, it is both our duty 
and our privilege to pray and labor for their conversion 
and salvation. But when God has taken them away, 
and the matter is decided, our only duty in reference to 
them is submission. If we have done our duty in seek- 
ing their salvation while they were with us, we have 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 91 

cause to be thankful. Whether we have succeeded or 
not, we shall not lose our reward. God will be glori- 
fied, and we profited, by every prayer we have offered 
and every effort we have put forth for them. 

"If we have failed in our duty, we have cause for 
penitence, and we should learn from the past to be 
more prayerful and diligent in future. In either case, 
we have neither time nor strength to spend in unavail- 
ing grief, but should feel ourselves called upon to be 
up and doing, working with our might while the day 
lasts, because the night cometh when no man can work. 

" My dear sister, do not sit down and pore over this 
distressing dispensation, but look away to Jesus Christ, 
who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Let it 
make him more precious to you. Look forward to the 
rest that remaineth for the people of God, where is no 
more death, and God doth wipe away all tears from 
their eyes. Let it make Heaven more desirable. Look 
around you upon the many comforts you still possess, 
and the many opportunities of being useful to near and 
dear friends yet within your reach. And while you 
thank God, take courage. Give yourself up anew to 
Him who has bought you with his own blood ; and, as 
the time is short, press toward the mark for the prize 
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. May he 
bless this affliction, and every affliction to you, and so 
fit you for his heavenly kingdom. The Lord bless you. 
11 Your affectionate pastor, 

" Wm. J. Armstrong." 

TO MISS E. D. 

"New York, June 28th, 1839. 

" My dear Sister : — 

" It pained us to hear that you were 

still weak and suffering. The Lord has given you a 



92 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

large share of that fatherly discipline which he pro- 
mises to all his children. Yet I trust you often feel 
now, as I am confident 3^011 will joyfully acknowledge 
at a coming day, that 'he hath done all things well/ 
afflicting you 4n very faithfulness/ and causing l all 
things to work together for your good/ He cares far 
more for our holiness, and our everlasting blessedness, 
than for our present comfort or ease, and hence in pro- 
portion as he loves us he chastises us, when his wisdom 
discerns that our highest good will thus be most signal- 
ly promoted. 

11 What a consolation it is that we are in the hands of 
one who cannot err, and whose love to us, as it is un- 
deserved and sovereign, so it is boundless and unchange- 
able. Let us meekly kiss the rod, and while he corrects 
or refines us by affliction, cling more closely to him, and 
strive and pray to have no will but his. Have you read 
the memoir of Mrs. Hawkes ? It is a precious book, 
especially for the afflicted. 

" It may be that our wise and loving Eedeemer de- 
signs to take you to himself soon, and that he has laid 
upon you so large a portion of suffering and sorrow 
since he took you into his school, because it was his 
purpose to complete your education for heaven at an 
early day. Or, he may design that you shall glorify 
him mainly by meek and patient submission, rather 
than by active exertion in his cause. In either case, if 
we knew his whole plan, we should see that it was per- 
fect. We do not know all now, but what we know not 
now we shall know hereafter, and humble, child-like 
confidence now may anticipate the bright and clear 
vision of a better world, and rejoice in the promise of 
God as in a present reality. But it is much easier to 
talk about these things than to realize them, and feed 
upon them, when pain and weakness distress us, and 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 93 

the grave seems just ready to open before us. May 
you, my dear sister, enjoy his sensible presence in the 
chamber of sickness, and on the couch of pain ; and 
when he calls you to go hence, be it sooner or later, be 
enabled to glorify him by a meek and humble trust, and 
a joyful testimony to his faithfulness and love. 
"I am, as ever, 
11 Very affectionately yours in Christian love, 

" Wm. J. Armstrong." 

TO MISS E. D. 

"New York, May 15th, 1839. 

11 My dear Sister : — 

" It pained me to hear that you are again a prisoner, 
and suffering severe pain. If we did not know that 
our best friend sends these afflictions, and as the choicest 
tokens of his love, how hard it would be to strive 
against impatience and despondency; and even with 
this assurance, though the spirit is willing the flesh is 
weak, and it is only as his grace sustains us, and we are 
enabled to hang upon his promises, that we can say 
from the heart, l Thy will be done.' 

" But let us look to him who ' chasteneth us as a 
father chasteneth his children,' and we shall be sup- 
ported. What wise and tender parent ever gave a child 
a more costly token of love than in chastening him, not 
for his present ease, but for his highest eternal good ! 
Even so, l whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' Eead 
the 103d Psalm, and the first part of the 12th chapter 
of Hebrews, and may the Holy Spirit apply those pre- 
cious truths with sweetness and power to your heart, and 
I am sure you will not only l rejoice in the hope of the 
glory of God, but glory in tribulation also, knowing 
that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experi- 

5* 



04 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

ence, and experience hope, even the hope that maketh 
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in 
our heart by the Holy Ghost given unto us. 7 How fast 
our friends are passing into eternity ! We shall soon 
feel as if the larger portion had gone before us, and 
that in this respect, also, heaven has more to attract us 
than earth. Well, if they were Christ's friends, death 
has triumphed only over their poor frail bodies. Our 
friends are not in the grave where we laid their cold 
and senseless dust. No; they are with Christ, made 
perfect in his likeness, enjoying a communion with him, 
which nothing can interrupt or mar, and showing forth 
his praises as they never did on earth. And our turn 
will come. Let us wait patiently all the days of our 
appointed time, and, in sickness and suffering, sing — 

" ' Though painful at present, 'twill cease before long, 
And then, how pleasant the Conqueror's song.' 

11 1 have just read an account of the last moments of 
an excellent and laborious, but afflicted servant of 
Christ, who fell asleep in Jesus on the 19th of Decem- 
ber last, at Basle, in Switzerland. As he was d3'ing, 
he desired those around him to sing a hymn, closing 
thus : 

" * As ivy clasps the oak, so may I cling to Thee, 
Be thine in life and death, yea, thine eternally.* 

" As they closed, he said: 4 Light breaks in! Hallelu- 
jah !' and departed, to be with Him whom his soul 
loved. Yes, dear sister, all things are ours. Life and 
death, if we are Christ's. Be it our concern to lean 
upon Him, doing his will and suffering his will, and 
his grace shall be sufficient for us ; and in proportion 
to our weakness and un worthiness shall his power and 



MEMOIIt OF W. J. AJIM8TB0NO. 95 

love be magnified in us. May lie teach you more and 
more, as he has in days past, that he is faithful and 
true, and that having loved his own, he loves them to 
the end. Let us hear from you often. The Lord keep 
and bless you. 

11 Very affectionately yours, 

11 Wm. J. Armstrong." 

The following notice taken of Dr. A/a death in Kich- 
mond, Va., where he was for some years Pastor of the 
First Presbyterian Church, indicates the kind remem- 
brance which was entertained of him as a pastor and 
a Christian man in that city: — 

4 'The session of this church has received, with deep 
sensibility, intelligence of the sudden death (by the 
wreck of the steamer ( Atlantic') of their beloved friend 
and christian brother, the Eev. Wm. J. Armstrong, 
D. D., Secretary of the c American Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foreign Missions,' and formerly Pastor of 
the First Presbyterian Church in this city. By this me- 
lancholy event, the church of Christ has been deprived 
of one of her most devoted ministers, and the cause of 
Foreign Missions of a warm friend and able advocate. 

a Resolved, That in behalf of this church, we tender 
to the A. B. C. F. Missions, and especially to the 
bereaved family and friends of our departed brother, 
our lively and heartfelt sympathy, under this trying 
bereavement. 

" Resolved^ That as Dr. Armstrong had appointed to 
preach in this church on the 3d Sabbath in this month, 
and receive our annual contribution to the cause of For- 
eign Missions, the day be still appropriated to that object; 
and that the Pastor be requested to preach a sermon on 



96 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

the occasion, with special reference to the death of otir 
departed friend and brother.' 7 
By order of the session. 

J. C. Stiles, 
Pastor of the United Pres. Church, 

Shockoe Hill. 
Samuel Reeve, Clerk. 

Much might be said of Dr. A. 7 s domestic character. 
But in no way can we in a few words delineate it so 
pleasantly and truthfully, as is done in the following 
brief letter from Mrs. A., which we are here permitted 
to insert. Though it be the tribute of an affectionate 
wife, it is doubtless a just tribute to actual worth : 

Orange, N. J., Aug. 1st, 1851. 

11 Rev. Hollis Read : 

11 Dear Sir, — It is cause of regret that I cannot furnish 
you with a private journal detailing my lamented hus- 
band's daily Christian experience and labors. A diary 
commenced in college, reveals a deep experience of the 
conflict with sin and a delightful reliance on the atone- 
ment and merits of Christ. It was there, at the age of 
18, he consecrated himself to the ministry, and com- 
menced those active labors which were blessed in the 
conversion of souls. Letters of sentiment or friendship 
he seldom wrote, except when a parishioner or friend 
needed counsel or consolation. A few of these you 
have. 

"The work of grace in his soul was greatly quick- 
ened from time to time by bereavements. Early in 
life the loss of beloved parents, and of a companion 
worthy of his love, taught him meek submission to his 
heavenly Father's will. Subsequently a sister, brother, 
son. and daughter, were removed from earth. Each 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 97 

of these losses seemed to give him an impulse heaven- 
ward, and it was evident to his friends that a peculiar 
tenderness and unction were added to his preaching. 
This was often poured forth in extemporaneous effusions 
which we lose in the written sermons. 

11 As a husband and father the natural benevolence 
of his heart shone out in daily words of kindness or acts 
of beneficence. He governed by love, while a mild 
firmness guided all his parental acts. Being much 
from home, his children could have but little of his 
instruction ; yet the last duty performed for them was 
teaching the shorter catechism. His last Sabbath on 
earth was a day of intense bodily pain, borne with a 
heavenly expression which I shall never forget. It was 
the only silent Sabbath during his ministry, except one 
when a Pastor in Eichmond, Virginia, where he had 
well nigh fallen a victim to the cholera. But his 
valuable life was spared for that missionary work which 
engrossed all his powers. When declining in health I 
urged him to retire to a country parish, where com- 
parative quiet might revive his exhausted strength. 
His answer was, ' I prefer to live and die in this blessed 
cause. 7 Constant apprehension was felt in the family 
circle lest his over-taxed energies should suddenly fail. 
This tended to prepare us for our great loss. His con- 
stant petition that Grod would prepare us for his Holy 
will, was answered in that dreadful hour when his body 
was brought home a lifeless corpse. We were not 
permitted to murmur or sink, but through sustaining 
grace, were enabled to say, ' justice and judgment are 
the habitation of thy throne.' How soothing in the 
hour of affliction to contemplate the redeemed spirit, 
rejoicing in the perfect likeness of Christ. 

" The promises to the widow and the fatherless have 
been abundantly verified in our case, and prove that 



98 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

none who trust in Him shall be forsaken. We feel 
unworthy of the blessings, temporal and spiritual, that 
have crowned our lives. To our covenant God and 
Saviour may they all be devoted, and the children 
honor the memory of their father with much Christian 
regard. 

11 Yours sincerely, 

"C. C. Armstrong." 

Mrs. Armstrong speaks of the " natural benevolence of 
his heart." This was read and known of all men as a 
prominent characteristic of the man. And a trait so 
characteristic in life, we might expect would manifest 
itself when he stood amidst the perils of death. Mrs. 
A. relates an instance beautifully illustrating this : A 
plain man from the West called on Mrs. Armstrong 
soon after the wreck, and with deep emotion, related 
that he was the only survivor of three, who knelt 
together in prayer at that trying hour when they mo- 
mentarily expected death. On rising, Dr. A. looked on 
him with affectionate earnestness and said, " my brother, 

I love you." How much like heaven — how much like 
the every day tenor of his life. " Christian love," says 
one that well knew him, u habitually characterised his 
words and actions. His family well remember that that 
charity which hopeth all things and beareth all things 
habitually governed him." 

" Punctuality," we are assured from the same source, 

II was a prominent trait of Dr. Armstrong's character. 
His people always saw him in the pulpit or at the prayer 
meeting in season. His business engagements were most 
scrupulously met." So exact and prompt was he in all 
pecuniary matters that, at the time of his death, though 
so sudden and unexpected, scarcely an account remained 
unadjusted. Weighty and engrossing as his public 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 99 

duties often were, be never overlooked even the minutia3 
of life's common duties. 

We are permitted to insert here some additional facts 
relative to Mr. Armstrong's early missionary life in 
Virginia, and a further testimony as to the estimation 
in which he was held where he long labored and was 
well known, kindly furnished by the Eev. Dr. S. B. 
Wilson, long the honored pastor at Fredericksburg, 
now Prof, of Theology in Union Theological Seminary. 
Dr. Wilson had known Mr. Armstrong from his first 
coming to Virginia as a missionary. He knew, loved and 
honored him up to the time of his death. In a letter 
dated Union Theological Seminary, Sept. 24th, 1851, 
Dr. Wilson says : — 

" My acquaintance with the late Eev. William J. 
Armstrong, D. D., commenced soon after his licensure, 
when he came to labor in Virginia as a missionary. 
In this service he continued some time, preaching in 
destitute places on both sides of the Kappahannock 
river, below and above Fredericksburgh. His minis- 
trations in this destitute field were in a high degree 
acceptable to the people, and it is believed were in many 
cases blessed to the conversion of sinners, and the edifi- 
cation and comfort of Christians, scattered as sheep 
without a shepherd. He was earnestly solicited to 
settle in more than one place in this region, where no 
church had ever been organized, and where the people 
had previously enjoyed no opportunity of hearing the 
voice of a Presbyterian minister. These earnest solici- 
tations, he reluctantly declined from a fear that the 
climate on the tide water of Virginia would not suit his 
health. 

" His attention was next directed to the beautiful, 
fertile, and healthy country that lies immediately on 



100 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

the east side of the Blue Ridge. After laboring for a 
few months in the counties of Orange and Madison, 
with great acceptableness to the people, he concluded 
to take charge of the church in Charlotteville, then 
recently organized, and to which he had been cordially 
invited. 

11 This selected field of labor was one of great import- 
ance. Charlotteville was the county town of Albemarle, 
distinguished for its wealth, and for the intelligence of 
its inhabitants, and at that time selected as the seat of 
the university of Virginia, which was then being 
erected under the direction of Jefferson. It was a 
position also of no little difficulty ; for in no part of the 
State was infidelity more rampant, and sustained by 
greater weight of character, both from high intelligence 
and political influence. 

11 But Mr. Armstrong, young and inexperienced as he 
was, proved himself qualified for his station. He con- 
ducted himself with so much wisdom and prudence, 
that the mouths of gainsayers were stopped, prejudices 
were removed, the truth, the necessity, and the infinite 
value of Christianity were established, and infidelity 
retired into secret places. The fruits of his labors, 
cherished and matured by his worthy successors, may 
be seen to this day, not only in the church to which he 
ministered, but in the respect shown to religion in all 
the region round about. By many, in that place and 
county, his memory is still cherished with the highest 
esteem and the most ardent affection. 

11 On the removal of Dr. John H. Eice from the First 
Church in Eichmond, to the Professorship of Christian 
Theology in Union Theological Seminary, Mr. A. was 
selected with great unanimity to be his successor. No 
stronger evidence of the high estimation in which he was 
held could be given, than his selection to be the Pastor of 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONO. ]01 

the First Church in the capital of Virginia, and the suc- 
cessor of such a man as Dr. Eice. Important and respon- 
sible as was the position to which he was now called, he 
fulfilled its duties to the entire satisfaction of his flock. 
Under his ministry, his church and congregation so 
much increased, that a new and larger edifice became 
necessary. Few pastors have been blessed with larger 
accessions to their churches than he enjoyed. 

" As a man, Mr. A. was endowed with talents above 
mediocrity. His literary attainments were not of the 
first order, but they were considerable, and fitted him 
in an eminent degree for the duties of his station^ As 
a christian he was humble, sincere, consistent, and full 
of ardor. In the social circle he was a cheerful, instruct- 
ive, and agreeable companion. As a preacher, it was 
his custom to prepare diligently and carefully for his 
pulpit services. His sermons were well calculated to 
instruct, excite, and comfort Christians, and to awaken 
careless sinners. The fundamental doctrines of the 
gospel, as held by Calvinists, were preached by him 
fully and plainly. His style of composition was simple 
and plain, such as the most illiterate could understand, 
while the most accomplished scholars could find nothing 
offensive in it. There was in nearly all his ministra- 
tions an unction which proved how sincerely he believed 
what he spoke, and how tenderly he felt for his hearers. 
Such were the rich stores of truth treasured up in his 
memory ; and such the fervor of his feelings, that on 
an emergency, he could speak extempore, with great 
appropriateness and power. 

" On ecclesiastical judicatories, and other associations 
for benevolent objects, Mr. A. was a punctual attendant, 
and faithful in the performance of the duties assigned 
him. In all his intercourse with his brethren he was 



102 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

kind and courteous, and hence was highly esteemed 
and greatly beloved by all who knew him." 

Many are still living who will recognise in the pic- 
ture, presented in the following extract, the preacher 
whom they once loved to hear, and to whom, under 
God, they were greatly indebted in the things that 
pertain to the spiritual life: — 

"Albemarle, October 26th,*1851. 

11 My Dear Friend and Sister : 

" At the time when Dr. Armstrong visited Char- 
lotteville in company with Messrs. Kirk and King, I 
was pursuing my studies at the university of Virginia. 
Partty out of respect to the Misses Terrell, and partly 
from curiosity to hear one whom they considered an 
eloquent man as well as an excellent preacher, I accom- 
panied them on Sabbath evening to the Court House. 
Miss E. Terrell had stated to me that, on a former 
occasion, during the time of Mr. Armstrong's ministry 
in Albemarle, her brother had gone to the Court House 
to hear him. As he entered, and paused for a moment, 
leaning against the door frame, his attention was arrested 
by some striking expression or commanding attitude 
of the speaker, and without materially changing his 
posture, he listened in wrapt attention to the end of 
the discourse. When the services were over and Mr. 
T. was retiring, a friend said to him, ' There were many 
who wept at that sermon. 7 'Yes,' said Mr. T., ' and 
one must have had the heart of a lion, not to weep.' 

"From this recital, my mind was prepared for some- 
thing interesting. I was at that time a self-righteous 
moralist, believing that I saw as clearly, and felt and 
acted as well as most others. I fully came up to the 
description of character to which the text and sermon 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 103 

were addressed. The sermon was a solemn and powerful 
warning and invitation on Eev. iii., 17,18. ' Because 
thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and 
have need of nothing,' &c, &c. 

u Under that sermon I received impressions which 
were never effaced. I listened with intense interest, 
never withdrawing my eyes from the speaker; and 
in consequence of being obliged to sit in such a position 
that two candles were nearly in my line of vision, my 
eyes, then strong, were made sore for nearly a week. 
Two other individuals, present on that occasion, were 
more affected than myself. One (a young lady) sank 
down from her seat, and another was quite overcome. 
Mr. King was afterwards heard to remark that if Mr. 
Armstrong, in his visits to the country, generally 
preached as he did on that occasion, it was no wonder 
that he did good ; and I well remember that when I 
afterwards spoke of it to one of Mr. Armstrong's elders, 
he remarked, that much as his session valued his minis- 
try, they could scarcely regret that he was frequently 
called to preach for brethren in the country, as they 
generally heard, sooner or later, that his occasional 
labors of that sort were blessed. 

" Believe me, with much respect and affection, your 
brother in Christ, "A. L. Holladay." 

Such testimonials are a sweet savor, a precious 
ointment, more to be desired than fine gold. But such 
was the esteem in which this beloved man was every- 
where held. He was eminently a man beloved. Few 
have shared so largely in men's best affections. In a 
note accompanying the above sketch, Dr. W. says : 
u I only regret that the sketch I have been able to give 
is not more worthy of one so generally esteemed and 
loved by all who knew him in Virginia." 



104 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

Few men knew Dr. Armstrong better or more favor- 
ably than Mr. Frelinglnvysen. He was wont to hear 
him preach when the preacher was in the dew of his 
youth in Trenton, and well appreciated the peculiar 
power of Dr. A. in the pulpit then and in after life. 
And he well knew him as Secretary of the American 
Board of Missions. The following letter which we 
have been so kindly furnished with permission to use, 
indicates in what estimation Mr. F. held him as a 
preacher, a man, and a Christian. 7 At a single stroke, 
he thus most graphically and beautifully delineates the 
man : "As a pastor, a preacher, a Secretary of the 
Board, he was in earnest. All around him felt it, 
they could not but feel it. And this made him so 
effective a laborer in the cause of his Master." But I 
will quote the letter entire : — 

"Xew Brunswick, October 7, 1851. 

" Dear Sir : 

" I duly received your letter requesting, in behalf of 
Mrs. Armstrong, such recollections of her excellent and 
lamented husband as I might be able to communicate ; 
and especially in regard to him as a preacher, and in his 
official relations to the American Board of Foreign 
Missions. 

" I very often enjoyed the privilege of hearing him, 
while he was a stated minister, at Trenton, N. J., and 
the impression made upon my mind, deep and unfading, 
was that of uncommon earnestness, sincerity, and power. 
He commenced in his calm and solemn manner ; he rose 
with his subject ; his mind kindled and his heart warm- 
ed, as he discoursed ; and towards the conclusion he 
poured his whole soul into it, as if he thought he might 
never speak again, and as if some impenitent friend 
before him might never hear again the voice of warn- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 105 

ing and the invitations of mercy. I think that this 
was the ruling element of his character. As a pastor, 
a preacher, a Secretary of the Board, he was in earnest. 
All around him felt it; they could not help feeling it; 
and this made him such an effective laborer in the cause 
of his Master. He loved the cause so much that he 
forgot himself. He was disinterested, as few men have 
attained. 

" There was, besides all this, in his personal inter- 
course, a Christian courtesy and kindness of manner 
that seemed to spring up from a heart like the beloved 
disciple's, and as if he had himself lain in the Saviour's 
bosom. His countenance beamed with a heavenly 
benignity. No one of his friends can ever forget, or 
cease to love, that intelligent, persuasive, and happy 
countenance. May his mantle fall on many such, for 
many such are needed. 

14 These, in brief, my dear sir, are some of the strong 
points that I remember of the Eev. Dr. Wm. J. Arm- 
strong, a man dear to the church of the Eedeemer ; and 
that will, I doubt not, be held in everlasting remem- 
brance. With affectionate regards to Mrs. Armstrong 
and her children, 

11 Yours, respectfully and truly, 

11 Theodore Frelinghuysen. 
11 Eev. Hollis Eead." 



CHAPTER V. 

Other reminiscences. — His early ministry in Charlotteville. — Letter to 
Mrs. Kelly. — To his sister. — To his daughter on her birthday. — Arm- 
strong in his first field of missionary labor. — Conclusion. 

Since preparing the foregoing pages, additional papers 
have been furnished, too beautifully illustrative of the 
character of our friend not to be allowed a place. As 
the object has been, not to present a chronological bio- 
graphy, but to portray the character of Dr. Armstrong 
as he lives in the memory of his friends, the following 
papers will serve to fill out the portraiture. In the first, 
we have the " Eecollections" of a friend (unknown to 
the writer), who gives us a graphic and charming deli- 
neation of Mr. Armstrong in a most interesting part of 
his life. The second is a private letter from himself to 
a female friend and member of his church in Charlotte- 
ville, which draws out the heart of the friend, the pas- 
tor, the missionary, and the private Christian. The 
third is a short letter to a daughter on her birthday. 
The fourth, a very characteristic letter to his sister, full 
of affection, ardor, and Christian fidelity to a beloved 
one who was out of Christ. The last is an exceedingly 
interesting communication from a clerical friend, happi- 
ly delineating the general character of Dr. A., yet pre- 
senting some particular traits of that character, and at 
the same time bringing before us certain delightful fea- 
tures of the churches amidst which Dr. Armstrong la- 
bored during his connection with the Central Board of 
Missions, which are perhaps not generally known. 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 107 

RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. ARMSTRONG'S LABORS IN 
CHARLOTTEVILLE, VA. — BY A FRIEND. 

"The summer of 1819 was a season of great drought 
through all this region of country. The vegetation was 
burnt up, the streams were dried, and everything indi- 
cated the want of reviving showers. The moral face 
of things was as desolate as the natural. God's people 
were languishing, the seed of truth fell into a soil with- 
out moisture, and the gospel hardened heart was as in- 
capable of bearing fruit as the parched earth. In this 
hour of despair to the Christian's heart, when there 
was no prospect of ingathering to the Master's king- 
dom, Mr. A. arrived. The state of things had so long 
been miserable, that even God's people had almost ceased 
to hope. It was, therefore, with no very high expecta- 
tions that the three Presbyterians, all who were in the 
place, accompanied their youthful missionary to the 
Court House, where he was to preach, for there was no 
church in Charlotte ville then. But God was better to 
his people than their fears. Mr. A.'s first sermon was 
the occasion of much heart-melting to the three of 
God's people who were to be the holders up of his 
hands. After two months of labor it was proposed to 
hold a communion season. And already the hearts of 
twelve had been renewed by the Spirit of Grace through 
his instrumentality, and were ready to confess Christ 
before men. For three years he continued to preach 
here and at South Plains, and many were added to the 
church of such as should be saved. A lady who was 
present at the meeting of the session, preparatory to 
the first communion, told me that she should never for- 
get the scene. Amongst the twelve then admitted were 
some who had already passed the allotted three score 



108 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

and ten, who, having spent their lives without hope and 
without God in the world, now saw the joys of this life 
flowing from them day after day, and felt themselves to 
be descending to a dark and comfortless grave. God 
made our dear Mr. A. the prophet at whose command 
their eyes were opened. One of the most venerable of 
these, at the session alluded to, leaning like a pilgrim 
upon his staff, his grey locks falling upon his shoulders, 
and the tears rolling down his furrowed cheeks, spoke 
in such a way of the goodness and mercy of God as 
manifested in his salvation, that all who were present 
caught the spirit of his tears and praises, and wept and 
praised with him. In the Sabbath school his labors 
were also much blessed, Mrs. Kelly, who was the su- 
perintendent of the school, has often told me of the 
great interest with which the children heard him, and 
the blessed results which attended his addresses. Many 
were converted to God in the days of their youth — 
some of whom soon fell asleep in Jesus. But in the 
trying hour it was evinced that they had been led in- 
deed to the Good Shepherd who taketh the lambs in 
his bosom, and they heeded not the swelling of Jordan. 
" In the family circle he was eminently fitted for use- 
fulness. His was a devoted piety, but not a Pharisaical 
austerity. He was a man of God and a man of the 
people. He had a ready access to every heart, for every 
heart was filled with love to him. You have a picture 
of his fireside intercourse in the copy of the letter sent 
you. To conclude ; we would say, that his ministry 
was eminently successful throughout his whole charge, 
which was scattered all through the county. And we 
here love to think of him as rejoicing around the 
throne of God and the Lamb with those who were re- 
deemed through his instrumentality." 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 109 

The tender interest which Mr. A. felt in the lambs of 
the flock, and especially in their religious training, as 
referred to above, was not diminished as in after years 
the field of his labors enlarged, and the duty of office 
pressed more heavily upon him. He loved children, 
noticed them much, and always had a word that should 
please and instruct them. Another friend who knew 
him well, speaks of the great care he afterwards took, 
when in the pastoral office, to encourage habits of active 
piety among the female portion of his charge. He 
urged them on to habits of active benevolence — though 
not to the neglecting of those domestic duties where lies 
the field of woman's labor and honor ; he encouraged 
female pra} r er meetings ; lost no opportunity, public or 
private, of dropping a word of caution and encourage- 
ment into the ear of the mother ; and particularly did 
he enjoin on the recently converted the duty of at once 
coming out and sharing with their older brethren in all 
the social and public duties of the Christian ; duties 
which might be regarded as a cross in after life might 
be made easy if- entered upon early. 

"Trenton, Xew Jersey, January 18th, 1823. 

" My dear Mrs. Kelly : — 

" I little thought when I was with you, that two 
years and six months would pass without my having 
any intercourse, verbal or epistolary, with my dear 
friends in Charlotteville. But it so has happened. 
Why, I can scarcely tell. Not on my part, because my 
friends are forgotten, or remembered with indifference. 
The recollection of their kindness will be obliterated 
from my memory only when the hand of death shall 
erase everything earthly that is recorded there ; and 
the bonds of Christian affection, strengthened by so 
many seasons when we took sweet counsel together as 

6 



110 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

w r e went to the house of God, or when by the fireside 
and at the family altar we had fellowship with our 
glorious Saviour and with one another, will endure 
when every earthly tie is sundered, and bind our hearts 
together in that blessed world where friends in Christ 
shall never part. He who knows my heart, knows 
that I often think of you all, and cease not daily to re- 
member you in my prayers. Could the excursions of 
imagination become realities, you would often see me 
sitting in your back parlor, listening to you while you 
were singing, or joining in conversation, or courting a 
kiss from my little coy favorite Mary, or laughing at 
Mr. Kelly's pet kitten, as it played its tricks for our 
amusement. 

" But why speak of these things. God hath cast our 
lots in wisdom and goodness, and though we are sepa- 
rated, perhaps to meet no more on earth, yet we are, I 
trust, one in him ; we may meet in spirit at his mercy 
seat. We have one Father, one Saviour, who hath 
bought us with his precious blood ; one sanctifier, who 
dwells in all that believe ; one faith, one hope, one well 
of life, one source of comfort in affliction, one support 
in view of death, one advocate on high, one eternal 
home. 

" Oh ! may none of us be found wanting in the day 
when they shall come from the east and from the west, 
from the north and from the south, and sit down with 
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of 
God. 

11 1 rejoice to know, that after being destitute for a 
season, the Lord has sent you one to break to you the 
bread of life. By a letter of Mr. Bowman to a friend 
of his in Princeton, I have heard with pleasure that his 
prospects of usefulness among you are encouraging. 
The Lord give him many souls in Charlotteville, as seals 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. Ill 

of his ministry. May he be blessed to comfort those 
who love Christ, and to save sinners, abundantly more 
than ever I have been. I should be sorry to think that 
you had ceased to love me, but I hope that you will 
love him at least as much as you did me, nor will I 
complain if you like him better. I regretted very 
much that I did not get better acquainted with brother 
Bowman before he left New Jersey. My love to him. 
May the Lord strengthen his hands, and encourage his 
heart. 

" Since I wrote last to Mr. Kelly, my health has 
been generally good. I may say, transposing the words 
of the apostle John, i I wish above all things my soul 
prospered and be in health as my body is.' But 'alas, 
my leanness, my leanness ; I am pained to my very 
heart.' During the past year we have enjoyed some- 
thing of the gracious presence of the Lord. About 
thirty-three or thirty-four have been added to the 
church, but the present is a season of coldness. Ordi- 
nances appear in a great degree barren, and the word 
almost without effect. Pray for us, my dear friend ; it 
is winter with my soul. My father and his family are 
well. My congregation treat me with much respect 
and kindness, and I need only the presence of Christ, 
and larger measures of his grace, to make me happy. 
But, oh, the deceitful heart, the deceitful world, and de- 
ceitful sin ! 

" Write to me, I beg of you, immediately ; you do 
not know how anxious I am to hear from you. Tell 
me about my old friends at Charlotteville, and at South 
Plains. Tell me how the cause of Christ prospers 
among you. Do you still keep up the female prayer 
meeting ? Do you still pray for me ? My love to all. 
May you and my dear Mr. Kelly enjoy much of the 



112 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

presence of Christ, and be enabled to walk together in 
all the ordinances of the Lord blameless. 
11 Yours, &c, 

11 Wm. J. Armstrong.' 7 

to sarah milnor armstrong on her eleventh 
birthday. 

11 My dear Child : — 

11 You are now ten years of age. More than half of 
the children who were born the same year that you 
were, are now in eternity ; but God has spared ycTu. 
Nine tenths of the children in the world, of your age, 
have never heard of the love of Christ, and have nore 
to instruct them or pray for them. But you were dedi- 
cated to Christ when you were an infant ; you have 
been instructed and prayed for every day. If you live 
ten years more, you will be a woman. The time will 
soon pass away, and if you should grow up and have 
no love to the Saviour, and no hope in him, what will 
be the end of it? My dear child, your heavenly 
Father says to you to-day, ' Give me thy heart ; they 
that seek me early shall find me.' Will you not hear 
and obey him now ? What joy you would thus give 
to your loving mother and 

11 Affectionate father, 

" Wm. J. Armstrong." 

TO MISS MARY ARMSTRONG. 

"Richmond, April 16, 1828. 

" My dear Sister : — 

" I heard last evening that our sister Sarah was no 
more among the living. Until recently, we have, as a 
family, been highly favored. Few families so large as 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 113 

that of our dear parents, are spared so long to each 
other. But God seems now to be admonishing us, by- 
repeated bereavements, that this world is not our home, 
and that unless we secure the ever living Saviour as 
our Friend, we must, in a little while, be bereft of all. 
How important is it that we should apply our hearts, 
diligently and prayerfully, to learn the lessons which 
he teaches. If we do, it shall be well with us ; but if 
being often reproved we harden our hearts, what can 
we expect but sudden and remediless destruction. It 
is painful to part with sister Sarah, but in her removal 
we have much to console us. Our sorrow is not for 
her, but for her babes, her husband, and ourselves. 
She has gone, we trust, to join our dear parents, and 
other dear friends, in those abodes where sin, pain, 
and death, are unknown. How differently should we 
have felt if sister Mary or Frances had been called 
away instead of Sarah ! Could we then have cherished 
the same hope? This thought, my dear sister, has, 
struck me with much force in reflecting upon this dis- 
pensation of our Heavenly Father. Have you consi- 
dered it ? Have you sincerely inquired of your own 
heart, ' am I prepared to leave all things earthly to go 
into eternity ? to appear before the heart-searching and 
holy Judge ? to have my everlasting destiny unchange- 
ably fixed V You have, my dear sister, been conse- 
crated from your infancy to God by our pious parents. 
You have been carefully instructed, you have been 
often prayed for. You have been striven with by the 
blessed Spirit of God ; you have sometimes been 
almost persuaded to give your heart to Christ. But 
where are you now ? What fruit has been produced 
by so many means and mercies ? Consider this matter 
seriously, prayfully. Do it now, when you have just 
been called, by the Providence of God, to look into the 



114 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

grave and into eternity; when you have just seen the 
power of religion to sustain and comfort ; when all 
things beside were wholly unavailing. I cannot ex- 
press to you how anxious I feel that this affliction 
should be sanctified to those who are yet out of Christ, 
and specially to you, as the oldest of our family, who 
has not made a profession of religion. My dear sister, 
be entreated now to give your heart to God. Eealize 
that you are a sinner, exposed to the displeasure of the 
Almighty, and in danger of being for ever banished 
from his presence ; that Jesus Christ is the only and 
the all-sufficient Saviour of sinners, as able and as wil- 
ling to save you as ever he was to save any ; and now 
cast yourself at the foot of his cross in penitence and 
faith. Do it now, for life is short ; we know not what 
a day may bring forth. We procrastinate in this con- 
cern at an infinite hazard. Now is the accepted time. 
May God bless you with a nevv heart, and teach us all 
to love him and live to his glory, that we may all meet 
at last in his presence. 

" Your affectionate brother, 

11 Wm. J. Armstrong." 

11 Eev. H. Bead :— 

11 Dear Sir, — It affords me sincere gratification .to 
learn that you have in process of preparation, some 
biographic memento of the late lamented Dr. Wm. J. 
Armstrong. Let not the life of so good and so useful a 
man be limited to the few revolving suns and seasons 
which he spends in the flesh. Not only is it true, that 
the good which a man does lives after him, but the life 
itself of the truly good man, in its holy and efficient 
tendencies, lingers on this side of the tomb while he 
sleeps in it ; or rather, while he soars beyond it. When, 
since the day of their birth, have Baxter, and Bunyan, 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 115 

and Doddridge, and Payson had so much of the sub- 
stance and power of life in the world, as at the present 
time ? The grave, instead of swallowing up their 
vitality, seems to have disclosed new sources of it; the 
rivulets from which, falling into the main current, have 
swelled it into a mighty river, widening and deepening 
and fertilizing with salvation a desolate world, as it 
goes onward to eternity. 

" Was it not thus even with the blessed Saviour 
himself? His death, not less than his life, was necessary 
to the consummation of his grand scheme of beneficence ; 
1 1 tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go 
away.' And, as in his case, the mightiest manifestations 
of the power of God were not put forth until after he 
had passed to the cross, to the sepulchre, and to his 
eternal glory, so, in his indulgent goodness, our Ilea* 
venly Father often immortalizes and enhances, in this 
world, the beneficent energies of his servants, after 
they are taken to their rest in heaven. Their bodies 
have gone to the dust ; their tongues are silent in the 
tomb ; but those virtues which they have breathed 
around them, those truths which they have preached 
and lived, form a representative embodiment which, 
incorruptible by time, and invulnerable to disease, will 
augment and prolong their influence for good till the 
blessed consummation comes. So it may be, and so I 
trust, it will be with him whose life and influence we 
are aiding to perpetuate. 

a My acquaintance with the subject of your memoir 
commenced in the spring of 1835, and was sustained 
with a high degree of intimacy, and, I think, with 
mutual pleasure, to the end of his useful life. At the 
time referred to, the American Board, for the better 
accomplishment of its benevolent enterprise, had re- 
cently organized a sectional auxiliary at the south, 



116 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

called * The Central Board. 7 This society enlisted the 
services of Mr. Armstrong as its Secretary or gene- 
ral agent ; and it was in that capacity that he visited 
Charlotte, North Carolina, where I was residing as 

pastor of the Presbyterian Church. He came on a 
mission to the churches, and his object was, by the 
diffusion of missionary intelligence, by the inculcation 
of divine truth, and by his personal intercourse with 
the ministry and the people, to awaken a healthy interest 
in the great cause of missions, and lay a foundation for 
its permanent and increasing support ; and the success 
with which he accomplished that object, while he made 
himself felt to be a blessing to our churches, gave the 
best proof that divine wisdom guided to his selection 
for it. 

41 Mr. Armstrong found it necessary to his purpose, 
that he should pass several weeks within the bounds 
of our (Concord) Presbytery ; and for the sake of con- 
venience, as affording a central location, he honored us 
with the privilege of furnishing him a prophet's accom- 
modations of a chamber and a stool which he was kind 
enough to call his c home.' Well he might so call it, 
for his easy though dignified familiarity and kind 
interest in all the members of the family soon made us 
feel that he was no stranger, while his serious, smiling 
countenance, his sympathizing eyes, his lively sensibility, 
warm heart, and engaging manners, would soon make 
4 home 7 anywhere, where goodness could be appreciated, 
and its indications perceived. A large number of young 
ladies connected with ' The Southern Female Institute 7 
of which I was then in charge, were members of our 
family ; and it will be long, ere I forget the interest 
which he manifested in their welfare, or the happy 
impression which his affectionate, serious intercourse 
made upon their minds. 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 117 

" At morning and evening worship of the family, lie 

was eminently spiritual and edifying, and never failed 
to engage the attention of all present. A brief expo- 
sition of scripture truth, or the mention of some 
illustrative and pertinent incident, or a kind but forcible 
appeal to the conscience in behalf of personal piety, 
would fix and throw over our thoughts a religious 
atmosphere preparing us to accompany him up the 
sacred mount of the Divine Presence, where we might 
hold sweet converse with God, and s;ain new convictions 
of his dreadful holiness and majesty. On one occasion he 
led us, in our morning devotions, into such a clear, 
satisfactory, and consolatory view of the Abrahamic 
Covenant and Christian baptism, especially the baptism 
of the infants of believers, as I have scarcely ever 
enjoyed, either before or- since. He seemed to bring 
God sensibly before us, recognising the nature and per- 
petuity of that covenant, and graciously renewing his 
pledges to receive now, from his faithful people, their 
children consecrated to him according to its stipulations, 
to be his true heritage for ever. We felt that in this 
delightful privilege and duty of dedicating our children 
to God by baptism, our feet were on a rock which 
would neither crumble and decay by the lapse of time, 
nor melt and vanish when the earth shall be burned 
up. And although since this scene transpired, of which 
no memorandum was ever made, more than sixteen 
years have passed away, yet the remembrance of it, 
even at this time, is both vivid and refreshing to the 
heart. 

11 He was both gentle and condescending. No one 
among us was so young or so obscure, as to fail to attract 
a portion of his attention. The child of less than two 
years w r as made welcome as a companion; and the 
servants were kindly advised in relation to their spiritual 

6* 



118 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

welfare, and earnestly borne in his petitions before the 
mercy seat. Such attentions won a listening ear and 
kind regards for the missionary cause, as well as the 
most affectionate respect towards himself. When, there- 
fore, an opportunity was given for contributions to be 
made, we were not surprised at the presentation of a 
liberal sum by the young ladies of the family, though 
that the servants should, without our knowledge, bring 
in a free-will offering of several dollars, was entirely 
beyond our expectations, and clearly showed how sin- 
cere and deep an interest had been enkindled in their 
hearts. He often recurred to this incident with mani- 
festations of the liveliest satisfaction. 

" The season of the year, selected by Mr. A. for 
visiting our churches, being that of their regular spring 
meetings, greatly favored his benevolent enterprise, as 
it did also his own spiritual enjoyment. It may not be 
improper to observe here, that in that portion of Carolina, 
as in some other parts of the south and west, the 
practice of celebrating the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper but twice a year, in the fall and spring, gene- 
rally prevails. On these occasions, preaching is usually 
had for several successive days previous to the Sacra- 
mental Sabbath, and neighboring ministers are called 
in to assist the pastor in his labors. The people too, 
many of whom dwell at the distance of several miles 
from their place of worship, in order to enjoy these 
sacred scenes, gather with their families around the 
sanctuary in the forest, and there abide through ' the 
last great day of the feast. 7 In many instances, for their 
better accommodation, booths or tents are erected in a 
suitable position near the house of God. These are 
well covered with weather boards and shingles, and are 
ordinarily large enough to admit of two or three apart- 
ments ; so that by good economy of space, fifteen or 



MEMOIR OF \V. J. ARMSTRONG. 119 

twenty of them will afford shelter and tolerable comfort 
to a large number of persons for so short a period. 
Thus, hundreds and often thousands of people are 
brought together from the surrounding country, who 
enjoy the unfrequent and precious privilege of sitting 
daily under the droppings of the sanctuary, and feasting 
upon its spiritual bounties. There, often a new lustre 
is given to the armor of the Christian soldiery, and new 
zeal fires their hearts. A fresh unction from the Holy 
One comes upon the followers of Christ ; their love and 
faith and prayer are kindled anew, and they ' mount 
up with wings as eagles; run, and are not weary; 
walk, and are not faint/ There, too, has the Holy 
Spirit, either as a mighty rushing wind, or as a still 
small voice, often come down upon the hearts of the 
unconverted. And oh ! what misery and biting anguish 
of conviction! and then what songs of ecstacy and 
thanksgiving have we witnessed beneath the shade of 
those solemn and venerable Carolina forests ! Blessed 
manifestations of the spirit ! At the recollection we fall 
unbidden into the touching strain of Ossian : — 

"The memory of joys that are past is like the 
Music of Caryl, pleasant and mournful to the soul." 

May God often repeat and long continue these heavenly 
visitations to those honored churches. 

11 As these ( sacramental meetings' were usually so ar- 
ranged that but one should occur in the same neighbor- 
hood on the same Sabbath, it enabled Mr. Armstrong 
to visit most of the churches on these occasions. This 
was his delight ; and he carried to them a preparation 
of mind and heart, a spiritual relish and ardor, which 
rendered his labors at them signally useful. His dis- 
courses were not generally of a missionary character, 



120 memoir of w. J. Armstrong. 

although he always introduced that subject in some 
part of the exercises, and took up a contribution for the 
cause. In his preaching he assumed that animated, 
living piety, and the missionary spirit, are homoge- 
nous ; and that the latter is to the former as the tele- 
scope to the natural eye. The telescope neither fabri- 
cates the eye, nor supersedes its necessity. On the 
contrary, it would be of no use without that organ. 
It does not create vision, but only lengthens its ken. 
So the missionary spirit is nothing without piety ; it 
only leads out the truly warm and pious heart into 
wider and more extensive views of Christian enterprise 
and duty, and engages its prayer and power for the sal- 
vation of a benighted world. Could these objects be 
accomplished, there would be no good cause of appre- 
hension for the welfare of the heathen. Hearts inflamed 
with divine love spontaneously ask, c Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do V And when the spirit of that in- 
quiry pervades the whole church, the heathen will be 
efficiently cared for, and the heralds of salvation will 
bring them home to God. It was his aim, therefore, to 
display those truths which are fitted to arouse, enliven, 
edify, and establish the people of God, and to alarm and 
persuade sinners to flee from the wrath to come. ( His 
speech and preaching were not with enticing words of 
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit, and 
of power.' Eeady in the Scriptures, gifted and forci- 
ble in his natural powers of logic, sufficiently diversi- 
fied in style and illustration, naturally eager for his ob- 
ject, and his heart now dilated with the love of God and 
with concern for sinners, he often poured forth on these 
occasions torrents of startling truth and impassioned 
eloquence, which electrified with joy the people of God, 
and palsied with fear and remorse the hearts of the un- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 121 

converted. None who heard him doubted that he was 
an ambassador for God — 

11 ' A messenger of grace to guilty man ; 
much impressed 
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
And anxious mainly that the flock he [fed] 
[Might] feel it too.' 

"The Sabbath scenes of these occasions — especially 
the manner of administering the sacramental elements 
— were probably new to our friend, and did not fail to 
awaken in his mind a lively and most joyful interest. 
It was, indeed, an imposing spectacle to witness the 
thousands who were sometimes congregated in those 
religions forests, orderly arranged, silent, solemn, and 
attentive to the messages of grace, as was ever a wor- 
shipping assembly in a temple ' made by hands.' 

11 Not only the bright radiance of the sun, and the 
genial air of heaven, but the life-giving influences of 
the Holy Spirit also w r ere there freely dispensed ; and 
the bowed head, and glistening eye, and broken heart, 
and voice of thanksgiving, gave proof that the prayer- 
hearing God was there, calling the dead to life, and 
working w T onders of salvation for the lost. 

" The celebration of the Eucharist comes immediately 
after the regular morning service. The sacred emblems 
are not circulated through the congregation as is usually 
practised in most parts of the country ; but those en- 
titled to communicate ; as many as conveniently can, 
after appropriate addresses and prayer, and w"Mle a 
hymn is being sung by the congregation, draw near, 
and seat themselves at extensive tables which have 
been previously prepared for the purpose. Here, sur- 
rounding these tables, they receive the consecrated em- 
blems, and listen to instructive discourses from the men 



122 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

of God, or engage in private edifying meditation for a 
suitable time ; and then, while the singing is resumed 
by the congregation, they withdraw, and are succeeded 
by others in the same privileges. The tables generally 
used on these occasions, are temporary fixtures, and 
long enough to accommodate, on both sides, from sixty 
to one hundred persons. And yet, so numerous is the 
attendance at some of these meetings, that they have 
been known to be successively filled, eight, twelve, or 
fourteen times, first by the white, and then by the 
colored people, professing to be the followers of the 
blessed Jesus. As they come forward from different 
parts of the assembly to participate in the joyful privi- 
lege, how interesting and affectionate is the scene! 
Some, with alacrity and humble joy, move to the sacred 
shrine ; others impenitently linger in their seats, having 
no part nor lot in the matter. g What solemnity and 
melting impressiveness must there be, to a devout mind, 
in witnessing such a spectacle. How naturally will it 
suggest to him, that next more solemn and fearful 
scene which it so much resembles, when before the Son 
of Man, on the throne of his glory, shall be ' gathered 
all nations, and he shall separate them, one from ano- 
ther, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; 
and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the 
goats on the left/ 

11 Mr. Armstrong had not the heart to be unmoved 
by these transactions. He looked upon them, not as 
many, with the indifference of the stoic, nor as many 
others, who idly gaze upon them as an entertaining, 
though unmeaning, melo-drama, but with the sincere 
and earnest faith of him who believes the record that 
God has given of his Son. He saw there the Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sin of the world. Before 
him was a visible manifestation that 'God so loved the 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 123 

world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth on him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life/ His eye affected his heart ; and his heart, 
moved by sympathy and love, and yearning towards 
the impenitent around him, melted into liquid thought, 
and gushed forth in the most fervid and earnest strains 
of appeal and entreaty. 

" ' Vehemens et liquidus puroque simillimus amni.' 

11 These, we have good reason to believe, were to him 
seasons of rare communion with God, and of spiritual 
enjoyment. As such, he often, in after years, adverted 
to them, and spoke with animation and pleasure of their 
hallowed and happy influence. Nor was the experi- 
ence of the brethren of Presbytery, and of Christian 
people generally, at variance with his own in this re- 
spect. Coming, as he did, from the companionship of 
the lamented Wisner, and other kindred spirits, and 
upon an embassy which would naturally lead a pious 
soul into frequent fellowship with God, he brought 
among us a tenderness and depth of devotional feeling 
which so flavored his preaching, and, indeed, all his in- 
tercourse with us, that others could scarcely fail to im- 
bibe the happy influence. His visits to our churches, 
therefore, instead of being shunned, as those of agents 
have sometimes been, were earnestly coveted by the 
pastors, and were anticipated as occasions of hope, of 
effort, and of prayer, for a blessing from on high, as 
they often proved. Thus, not only was he eminently 
successful in the special object of his mission — collect- 
ing liberal contributions, and imparting a healthy mis- 
sionary tone to our churches — but by wisely making 
his efforts fall in, and harmonize with, those of the 
ministry, he became a valued auxiliary in their work, 



124 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

and often an almoner of prompt and special blessings to 
the people. Many of the humble children of God, in 
those churches, would yet, I doubt not, experience 
lively pulsations of delight at the mention of his name, 
and be ready to say, as the two disciples did of their 
Lord, l Did not our heart burn within us while he talked 
with us by the way, and while he opened to us the 
Scriptures, and communed with us in breaking of 
bread V 

u But no more such seasons shall they ever enjoy with 
him in the flesh ; though with him and with their Lord, 
in his kingdom, they may hereafter more joyfully drink 
the wine neiu. Thither, with believing hope, we turn 
our eyes. 'In my Father's house are many mansions: 
I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go and pre- 
pare a place for you, I will come again and receive you 
unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.' 
Such is the glorious destiny of the saints ; and when 
the gracious Saviour comes to fulfil his promise, little 
does it matter whether we ascend corporally, like Eli- 
jah, in a chariot of fire, or whether, like our honored 
and lamented brother, we shake off our dust in the 
billowing surges of the deep, and wing our way, unseen 
by mortal eyes, to the ever-bright, ever-blessed home 
of the good. There, we joyfully believe, this servant 
of God has been welcomed to repose. Happy in the 
retrospection of his toils and labors in the cause of his 
divine Lord ; happy in his works which have followed 
him, and which will continue to follow him for long 
ages to come, in the form of souls redeemed and saved 
by his honored instrumentality ; happy in the spread- 
ing triumphs of the cross, in the wonders and glories 
of redemption, in the resplendent visions of immortal- 
ity ever bursting on his enraptured eye ; and above all, 
happy in the uninterrupted and unalloyed fruition of 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 125 

the infinite Trinity ; there he has attained, and fully 
realized, the grand consummation and chief end of hu- 
man existence — ' to glorify God and enjoy him for 
ever/ In answer to his many devout and earnest 
prayers, may a thousand blessings descend upon the 
church, and thousands of thousands upon the Pagan 
world to the end of time. 

11 Yours fraternally, 

" A. J. Leavenworth. 

" Petersburgh, Ya., Jan. 17th, 1852." 

In reviewing the reminiscences which we have been 
able to collect of this truly excellent man, the follow- 
ing impressions are spontaneously forced upon our 
mind : — 

I. That Dr. Armstrong was eminently an evangelical 
man. In his temper of mind, in his every day life and 
conversation, he was eminently evangelical. Find him 
where you would, and he was a missionary. His work 
was one. He was a minister of the New Testament. 
He was always about his Father's business. Not only 
did he preach the great and distinguishing doctrines of 
the cross, but his life was a beautiful illustration of 
these doctrines. He did the work of an evangelist, 
first, as sent out by the General Assembly's Board of 
Missions to Virginia, then at Trenton and Eichmond, 
where, as pastor, his labors and public teachings were 
peculiarly seasoned with the salt of the missionary 
spirit. And such, too, was the character of his whole 
public ministry and of his Christian life. He com- 
menced his public ministry, as we have seen, as a mis- 
sionary in Virginia. He there early became known as 
the friend of the colored people. " To the poor the 
gospel is preached." And well did he verify, in his 
ministry, this delightful characteristic of the great 



126 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

scheme of human salvation. Wherever he preached, 
he fulfilled the same evangelical mission. " While 
preaching as a missionary in Albemarle,' 7 writes a 
friend, "Mr, Armstrong was much interested in the 
welfare of slaves. A traveller, passing a grove, heard 
the voice of earnest supplication. It was the j^oung 
missionary pouring out his soul in prayer for the salva- 
tion of the African race. To them he often preached, 
and from them he had many seals of his ministry." 

Of few men may it be so truly said that Christ was 
in all his preaching. The subjects of his sermons were 
all of this character — all tending to edify and comfort 
the saint, and to convert the sinner ; all indicating a 
remarkable singleness of purpose in the whole course of 
his ministry. If a pastor, it was to preach Christ, and 
from house to house to urge the claims of Christ on 
the attention of the perishing sinner. If a missionary, 
it was to preach Christ where he was not known, and 
to establish churches where Satan's seat is. If an agent 
of benevolence, it was to urge the claims of Christ on 
his church, that she should send his ever blessed gospel 
to the ends of the earth. If in the social circle, in the 
family, in the prayer meeting or in the closet, by the 
wayside, in public or in private, he had but one theme. 
In the best sense of the term, he was a man of one idea. 
True as the needle to the pole, he was the missionary, 
preaching Christ, and him crucified. He was truly a 
minister of the New Testament. His whole life was 
beautifully imbued with a living evangelism. 

II. Dr. Armstrong was a man of prayer. He was 
much in his closet. We have spoken of his habits of 
secret prayer in his place of business. Though so en- 
grossed, as he necessarily was, in the business of an 
onerous office, nothing closed his doors against the calls 
of his friends, and the friends of missions, but his com- 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 127 

munings with his God. M Much of his work," as a 
friend recently remarked who had often waited for ad- 
mission at his door till he had finished his supplications, 
— the bedewed cheek and the air of devotion clearly in- 
dicating the nature of his engagement, — "much of his 
icorlc was prayer." Here lay his great strength. He was 
mighty in his work, because he was a man of prayer. 
He wrestled with Jacob's God ; and in the strength of 
Israel's God he went on in his work. 

In his secret devotions he put on his armor, and girded 
himself for his work. Here was the hiding and the 
fountain of his strength. But there was, in relation to 
his habits of prayer, another remarkable feature ob- 
served while in the execution of his work. We here 
refer to his public prayers. Thousands will at once re- 
call those prayers, and the deep, delightful, lasting im- 
pression made by them. There was a moral power in 
his prayers seldom witnessed elsewhere. When he 
conducted the devotions of an assemblage in the sanc- 
tuary, there was a melting down of the spirit, a kin- 
dling of the soul, a sense of the Divine presence ; there 
was a feeling of solemnity, of awe, of reverence, per- 
vading the worshipping assemblage ; a feeling that he 
who was speaking to God had entered within the veil, 
and was talking with God, face to face. There was 
eloquence, there vas sublimity ; yet not in words, ex- 
cept in the dialect of child-like simplicity ; not in 
thoughts, except in such as brought the great Jehovah 
near — as made death, judgment, heaven, hell, awful 
realities — as made the soul feel, how dreadful is this 
place! this is none other than the house of God, and 
this is the gate of heaven. 

There was an unction in his prayers ; a confiding of 
the spirit in God ; a nearness of access to the Father of 
all mercies ; an expression of strong faith ; the evi- 



128 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

dence of hope, and the strong crying of earnest sup- 
plication, which will long be remembered by those who 
heard him. It was the power of prayer that gave such 
weight to the truths which he afterwards uttered, or 
the facts he stated, or the claims of a dying world 
which he urged. He was mighty through God. Hence, 
III. His poicer in the pulpit. We believe it will be 
readily conceded that Dr. A. exercised a power in the 
pulpit which falls to the lot of only a favored few. As 
you heard him preach, you might not have pronounced 
him a great preacher, or eloquent ; yet, in a very im- 
portant sense, he was both. If he be a great preacher 
who, in an uncommon degree, secures the great end of 
preaching ; who brings forth such thoughts, and. so ar- 
ranges them, as most effectually to impress, convince, 
and persuade ; if he be a great preacher who so delivers 
his sermons as eminentl} r to gain the great end for 
which he preaches, we may claim for Dr. Armstrong 
this enviable distinction. He was, in this better sense 
of the term, a great preacher. His greatness consisted 
in a beautiful imitation of his Divine Master. His 
words had power, because they were baptized in the 
Holy Ghost. His eloquence was fervid, effective, often 
overpowering: because he spake from a warm heart 
the burning truths of the everlasting Gospel. He pos- 
sessed a power in the pulpit which few attain to. Yet 
it was not the power of words, not the power of great 
and fresh thoughts ; it was the pathos of a baptized 
soul. It w r as the glowing ardor of one who stood be- 
tween the living and the dead ; before whom eternal 
realities were in full view ; who preached in sight of 
judgment; above whom heaven smiled, and who 
heard the groanings of the prisoners beneath, and saw 
the smoke of their torment ascend. There was in his 
preaching no theory, no speculation, no tricks to please 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 129 

the ear or fascinate the imagination ; all was practical, 
all real. It was :his vitality, this appearance of reality, 
this life and death aspect of the things he set forth, 
which gave him his power. Herein his great strength 
lay. Shorn of these locks, he would have been weak 
as any man. Suspend his communings with heaven ; 
cut the golden pipe that continually conveyed the oil 
to his lamp from the living Olive Tree ; take away that 
holy pathos which he brought with him from behind 
the veil ; let him dwell on other themes than those 
which pertain to the reality of the life and death set 
forth in the Gospel, and you have disrobed him of his 
great strength. 

Much of what has now been said was true only of 
the living preacher. It will not all be found in his 
written sermons. The warmth of his feelings often 
furnished him with thoughts at the moment which 
might characterize a whole sermon, but which do not 
appear on the page. As applicable to the living 
preacher, we believe, our remarks will meet a cordial 
response from thousands who heard him. 

IV. Finally, Dr. Armstrong was characterized by an 
impartial, diffusive benevolence. Of few men could it be 
more truly said, he loved everybody ; that he was unself- 
ish, kind, obliging, self-sacrificing for the good of others. 
All who knew him, took knowledge of him that he had 
been with Jesus ; that he had there been instructed in the 
14 new commandment." Whether in the family or in the 
social circle, or in the performance of official duty, his 
whole demeanor was pervaded by benevolent feeling. 
He was the John among the disciples — a living personifi- 
cation of that charity which suffereth long and is kind, 
envieth not, vaunteth not itself, seeketh not her own, is 
not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, beareth all things, 
believeth all things, hopeth all things. His life was a 



130 MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG. 

pleasing commentary on the gospel he loved to preach. 
It was a living illustration of love. He loved the souls 
of his fellow men. He was willing to spend and be 
spent for their salvation. For this end he labored un- 
tiringly, for this end he contributed liberally as the 
Lord prospered him. While living, he was a blessing 
to many ; in his death, he was the ready and honored 
instrument of bringing consolation and warning to them 
who were, at that crisis, so suddenly and unexpectedly 
hurried away to the bar of God ; and a sweet savor 
perfumes his memory, as his happy spirit reposes in the 
bosom of his God. 

He rests from his labors, but he is not unmindful of 
the work which he so much loved while living. He is 
among that cloud of witnesses who watch with the in- 
tensest interest the progress of the work of human re- 
demption. With him all now is reality; judgment, 
eternity, heaven, hell, are all awful realities. The im- 
mortal soul — its destiny, its apostasy, its salvation 
through the atonement of a crucified Saviour, or its 
utter and final ruin — oh, what awful realities now! 
And with what angelic earnestness, in what seraphic 
tones, does he now bid his fellow laborers, who still re- 
main as co-workers with God below, to use all diligence, 
to employ all their activities to save, if it be but one 
soul, from the undying death. 

He has finished his course ; he has gone to his rest ; 
he has left behind him an example worthy of imitation. 
We thank God for such trophies of his grace ; for such 
illustrations of what his love and his power can do in 
changing the plants of a strange vine into lovely trees of 
righteousness, and planting these in the house of the 
Lord. We thank God for these demonstrations of his 
power, these attestations of his covenant faithfulness. 
We see what he can, what he does, and what he will 



MEMOIR OF W. J. ARMSTRONG, 131 

do. He will fulfil his promises ; he will carry out his 
purposes of mercy towards ruined man ; he will of 
these stones raise up children to Abraham. He will 
accept the labors of his servants ; if we honor him in 
an honest consecration of ourselves to his service, he 
will honor us by receiving us as coadjutors with himself 
in carrying out his plans of mercy towards our world. 
Surely, then, the life of the good man is a legacy to 
posterity. We will receive it as a goodly heritage. 
May we imitate his virtues, and follow him as he fol- 
lowed Christ ; and, with grateful hearts to Him who 
has given us another such example of his love to man, 
respond : 

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from hence- 
forth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
their labors, and their works do follow thek. 



£ t -r m : b * ♦ 



£» mn n * ♦ 



SEEMON I. 

THE DEATH OF THE SAINT. 

" Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." — Psalm 
cxyi. 15. 

God has a people among men. Wherever he sends his 
Gospel, he makes it his power and his wisdom to the 
salvation of some. Their outward circumstances are 
various. They are known by different names and de- 
nomiLations. Ignorance and prejudice often prevent 
them from recognising each other : but, in the omni- 
scient; eye, they are all a peculiar people, called out from 
the world and separated from it by a difference wide, 
essential, and permanent. They have received the 
Gospel, not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, 
the word of God. And it has wrought in them, effectu- 
allv, conviction of sin and conversion to holiness. It 
has made them humble penitents toward God, and cor- 
dial believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It has taught 
them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live 
soberly, and righteously, and godly in the world; to 
renounce the world as a portion, and to lay up their 
treasure in heaven ; to look not at the things that are 
seen and temporal, but at those things that are unseen 
and eternal ; to endure as seeing him who is invisible ; 
not as pleasing men, but God who searcheth the heart. 



136 SERMONS. 

They are born again by the Word of God which liveth 
and abidetk for ever. They are the workmanship of 
God, the Holy Spirit, created in Christ Jesus unto good 
works. They are dead to the world, to its maxims, 
fashions, and pleasures, to their own former pursuits, to 
the principles by which they were once governed, the 
hopes they cherished, the joys in which they delighted. 
Their life, as to its source, its principles, its end, is hid 
with Christ in God. Christ is their life ; his merits 
and intercession are the foundation of their hope ; his 
law is their rule of conduct ; his example, their pat- 
tern ; his grace, the source of their daily strength ; 
his love, their animating motive ; his glory, the object 
at which they aim ; perfect conformity to him. and in- 
timate and everlasting communion with him, the con- 
summation of all their desires and hopes. 

These are some of the distinguishino; traits of charac- 
ter by which, according to the bible, the saints of the 
Lord are marked as a peculiar people. Their develop- 
ment is more or less full and distinct in their present 
imperfect state ; and they stand out to the observation 
of the world in a manner more or less prominent and 
palpable. But they exist in every child of God, and 
they divide the righteous from the wicked by a broad 
line of demarcation, which all shall one day discern and 
acknowledge. As they differ essentially in character 
from all others, so do they in condition. 

Having obeyed the Divine command — Come out from 
the world, and be ye separate, and touch not the un- 
clean thing — they experience the fulfilment of the pro- 
mise : I will be a Father unto 3 7 ou, and ye shall be my 
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. They 
are all the children of God by faith, in Jesus Christ ; 
and if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Christ. For a season they may be in heaviness, 



THE DEATH OF THE SAINT. 137 

through manifold temptations ; but it is, that the trial 
of their faith, more precious than that of gold, may be 
found unto praise and honor and glory, at the appear- 
ing of Jesus Christ, whom, not having seen, they love. 
The world knoweth them not, even as it knew not him. 
In the world they may have tribulation, as their Ke- 
deemer had ; but as he overcame, so shall they over- 
come; and when he shall appear, they shall be like 
him, for they shall see him as he is. They have re- 
demption through the blood of Christ, even the forgive- 
ness of sins, according to the riches of his grace ; and 
being justified by faith, they have peace with God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only so, they 
glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation work- 
eth patience, and patience experience, and experience 
hope, and their hope maketh not ashamed, because the 
love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy 
Ghost given unto them. 

Having God as their Father, and united to the Lord 
Jesus as the branch to the vine, or as the members of 
the body to the head, all things are theirs so far as is 
conducive to their eternal good ; all the dispensations 
of Divine Providence are adapted to train them up for 
perfect holiness and happiness ; all the provisions and 
promises of the Gospel are designed to make them 
partakers of the Divine nature ; all the means of grace, 
and the accompanying influences of the Spirit, are insti- 
tuted and bestowed, to impart unfailing efficacy to those 
provisions and promises. Every stage and step of their 
earthly pilgrimage is ordered by infinite wisdom and 
love. Their present light afflictions work out for them 
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 
And death is theirs ; its bitterness is taken away, its 
poison is extracted, its sting is drawn ; and the same 
parental kindness which guides and guards them through 



138 SERMONS. 

the perplexities and toils and sorrows of life, presides 
over its closing scene, arranges all its circumstances, 
and, accomplishing in it important purposes, causes it 
to redound to his glory and to their everlasting good. 
This, I suppose, is the meaning of the expression in the 
text: a The death of the saints is precious in the sight 
of the Lord." It is not an event unforeseen, or over- 
looked, or uncontrolled by him. It has its own place, 
from the beginning, in the purposes of his everlasting 
love. It is one of the stages through which he conducts 
them to that fulness of joy which is in his presence, to 
those pleasures which are at his right hand for ever- 
more. He selects the time and place, and appoints all 
the circumstances of their removal. All its conse- 
quences to themselves and to others are foreseen and 
chosen by him; and in the morning of the resurrection, 
when their salvation is complete, they shall look back 
upon their passage through the dark valley of the 
shadow of death, as w r ell as upon their journey through 
this mortal life, and their temporary abode in the inter- 
mediate state, and exclaim with wonder, gratitude, and 
love, what hath Grod wrought ! Eternal praises to his 
name, He hath done all things well. The Providence 
of God is administered by general laws. To the view 
of man all things come alike to all ; there is one event 
to the righteous and to the wicked. They bow to the 
same unchanging decree, " Dust thou art, and to the 
dust thou shalt return." By lingering or violent 
disease, by gradual decay or sudden disaster, the mys- 
terious tie that binds the spirit to its earthly companion 
is severed. The body, cold, motionless, senseless, is 
committed to the dark and silent tomb. The thinking, 
active, conscious being that once animated it, and 
through it held communion with living men, passes at 
once beyond our range of observation. We follow our 



THE DEATH OF THE SAINT. lo9 

fellow being to the very brink of the precipice; avc 
mark his emotions; we sympathize with them in the 
very article of dissolution. But in a moment all the 
ties that bound him to us are severed ; all intercourse 
ceases : all communion is at an end. No mortal hand 
may lift the veil that hides him from our view, no 
mortal eye may penetrate the darkness that rests upon 
his onward career through the untried futurity. We 
dwell for a little with a melancholy interest upon the 
circumstances of his departure from us ; we miss him 
for a few days from his wonted places of resort ; but 
other objects engage our attention, other persons fill 
the vacancy which he has left, and soon he is forgotten. 
Thus it is with the righteous and the wicked, with him 
that feareth God, and him that feareth him not. But 
Tfthen we look at this event in the light of that lamp 
which God has let down from Heaven, when we view 
it as it is presented to us by him who came out from 
the bosom of the Father to teach us our duty and our 
destiny, and to reveal for our admonition and guidance 
the secrets of eternity, how wide, how important, the 
difference ! " The wicked is driven away in his wicked- 
ness, but the righteous hath hope in his death." To 
the one, death is the dread arrest of divine justice, 
summoning the impenitent transgressor away from the 
probationary state, where he has abused the long suf- 
fering of his God, neglected the great end of his existence, 
squandered his time, his talents, and his opportunities 
to gratify his selfish passions, perverted the very mercies 
he enjoyed as an occasion of greater sin, filled up the 
measure of his iniquities, and sealed his own condem- 
nation — summoning him away to the bar of a righteous 
Judge to have his whole character, all his conduct and 
his motives, pass under the scrutiny of omniscient 
holiness and to receive a just recompense of reward, — 



140 SERMONS. 

by which he shall reap the harvest he has sown, and 
for ever eat of the fruit of his own doings and be filled 
with his own devices. To the other, death is a welcome 
messenger sent to announce the period of his toils, and 
temptations, and sorrows ; to remove him from a world 
where he has lived a pilgrim and a stranger ; to release 
him from a body of sin and death, and conduct him far 
from weakness, frailty, and imperfection, to his Father's 
house, to the bosom of his Eedeemer, to the society of 
his brethren, where every holy desire shall be filled, 
every devout aspiration satisfied, every pious hope 
realized, and his thirsty soul shall drink of the river of 
God's pleasures and bathe in an ocean of bliss. To the 
one, the hour of dissolution is a final separation from 
all that he has loved, or sought, or known ; from all 
that had diverted his attention from his own guilt and 
folly in disobeying God and neglecting his soul; all 
that had restrained his selfish appetites and passions 
from raging with unbridled fury, all that had lulled 
conscience into delusive slumbers or rendered him 
callous to its reproaches ; it is his removal to a world, 
w r here he has laid up no treasure, for which he has 
made no preparation, to which he has looked forward 
only with anxious doubt, or dark and gloomy forebod- 
ings, and in which he has no friend, no hope, no portion. 
To the other, it is a desired and expected removal from 
weariness, sin, and trouble, to scenes, employments, and 
joys long sought after with eager hope and ardent effort, 
for which he has been ripened by a diligent use of all 
the means of grace, a conscientious obedience to the 
whole will of God, a sanctified improvement of every 
dispensation of divine providence ; and by the cherished 
and powerful operations of the Holy Spirit, transforming 
him into the likeness of Christ and thus sealing him for 
the day of redemption, and giving him the earnest of 



THE DEATH OF THE SAINT. 141 

eternal life. To both, death is the commissioned agent 
of the King of kings, executing his pleasure in the way 
and at the time which he appoints ; but to the wicked, that 
Almighty Being is an offended sovereign, arresting the 
stubborn rebel in the very act of lifting the weapons of 
rebellion against his throne ; a slighted Saviour, sum- 
moning the despisers of his grace and love to a strict 
account. To the righteous, a reconciled God and Father 
calling his children to the embraces of parental love ; a 
Eedeemer, affectionately trusted and obeyed, gathering 
in those whom he has ransomed by his blood to the 
mansions he has prepared for them, that they may be 
everlasting monuments of his mighty power and abound- 
ing grace. Precious is their death in his sight. He 
orders all its circumstances ; he leaves them not unaided 
in their struggle with the last enemy. In their nature 
he has himself encountered and overcome the king of 
terrors, and he knows how to sympathize, to soothe, to 
sustain, to give the victory. Into the abode of separate 
spirits he has gone before them, and there will he show 
them the path of life. The grave he has consecrated 
as a resting place for his people ; and as he burst the 
bars of death and ascended up on high, he led captivity 
captive and entered into his glory, so shall his voice 
ere long waken their sleeping dust, breathe into their 
decayed frames immortal life, pour upon them a vigor 
and a beauty like his own, and, reuniting the pure spirit 
to its glorified companion, rise with them to his Father 
and their Father, and his God and their God. " Pre- 
cious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, 
yea blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." Whether 
like aged Jacob, they calmly meet the king of terrors, 
surrounded by weeping friends, and soothed by every 
expression of filial love, or, like Lazarus, are borne by 
angels to Abraham's bosom from the cheerless home 



142 SERMONS. 

of want where none were present to sympathize or to 
pay the last offices of kindness, or like the first martyr, 
sink under the hand of violence and pass from the circle 
of enraged enemies, breathing out threatenings and 
slaughter, to the immediate presence of their glorious 
Redeemer and the triumphant songs of the upper sanc- 
tuary ; their death is precious in his sight who hath 
redeemed them unto himself by his own blood. What- 
ever in its circumstances may seem mysterious to 
surviving friends, is all plain and clear to them in the 
light of that world where they now rejoice. We have 
abundant reason to believe that such as I have described 
was the character of that respected member of this 
Church, whose sudden removal from us we are called 
to consider and improve to-day, and whose mortal 
remains are now before us to be borne for the last time 
from this house of God, where he so often worshipped 
with delight, to that dark and silent mansion where 
they will slumber till the morning of the resurrection. 



SERMON II. 

THE LOVE OF CHRIST A CONSTRAINING MOTIVE IN 
THE MISSIONARY WORK. 

•* For the love of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge , 
that if one died for all, then were all dead." — 2 Cor. v. 14-. 

Two things are remarkable in the early history of 
Christianity : the extent and power of the missionary 
spirit in the primitive church, and the blessing of God 
crowning missionary effort with signal success. 

The first Christians were a feeble band. They were 
few in number ; without wealth, without learning, with- 
out influence, or earthly resources of any kind. When 
they began to propagate the Gospel, the world had 
bowed down for ages under the iron yoke of error and 
superstition. Never was an enterprise more arduous 
or perilous, or to the eye of reason hopeless of success, 
than the work of publishing everywhere the glad tid- 
ings, as it was undertaken by them. From the city 
where their Master had just suffered an infamous 
death, a despised and feeble company of his followers 
went forth to persuade the world to honor him as their 
Redeemer, Sovereign, and Judge. Into this work, ap- 
parently so hopeless, they entered with an ardor, a con- 
stancy, a perseverance, a purpose, and a confidence of 
success, never surpassed. 

And such was the Divine blessing on their labors, 
that ere one generation had passed away, it is written 
of them : u Their line is gone out into all the earth, and 
their words to the end of the world.' ' And while they 
were everywhere reviled, and scorned, and persecuted, 



144 SERMONS. 

and their path was marked by their tears and blood, 
and illumined by the fires of martyrdom, the cause for 
which they toiled and suffered held on its way ? waxing 
stronger and stronger, till it triumphed over all oppo- 
sition, and from the throne of imperial Home received 
the homage of the civilized world. 

In the text, one of the early heralds of the cross — him- 
self not a whit behind the very chiefest in labors, and 
sufferings, and successes — tells us what principle ani- 
mated him and his brethren in this arduous, blessed 
work : " The love of Christ constraineth us." 

The meaning of this declaration is the same whether 
we interpret the phrase u the love of Christ," as our love 
to Christ or Christ's love to us ; if the first, our love to 
Christ springs from his love to us, and is sustained and 
animated by it ; if the last, Christ's love to us operates 
as a practical principle by producing in us love to him. 

Whether we be beside ourselves, as some assert, says 
the apostle, it is to God ; or whether we be sober it is 
for your cause ; for we thus judge, &c, &c. 

The phrase by which he describes the influence of the 
love of Christ is very emphatic ; it constraineth us ; 
literally, it surrounds us, and presses us on every side, 
so that we cannot escape from it. It bears us along, 
like a mighty torrent, with resistless power ; through 
toils and trials, through sacrifices and sufferings, and 
death itself, we are borne onward by our love to him 
who died for us. 

When those disciples thought of Christ's love to them, 
so free, so strong, so precious in its fruits — when their 
hearts were opened to the blessed influences of that 
love — it awakened feelings of gratitude and esteem, and 
ardent desires to please and honor him who thus loved 
them and gave himself for them. It called forth in their 
hearts a love to Christ, stronger than the love of ease, 



THE LOVE OF CIIIUST IN THE MISSIONARY WORK, 145 

or the love of wealth, or of reputation, or qf friends, or 
of life itself. Cheerfully they put all these at hazard 
for his sake ; joyfully they sacrificed them all when the 
honor of his name and the promotion of his cause 
called for the offering. 

Such is the nature of all genuine love to Christ. In 
proportion as it is sincere and enlightened, it is steady 
and practical ; it is supreme and transcendent ; it sub- 
dues everything in the believer himself to its own sway ; 
it determines the end for which he lives, and marks out 
the path he pursues, no matter what difficulties may 
beset that path. Thus it wrought in the primitive 
church, as the great principle of missionary effort, 
prompting to every toil, and sacrifice, and suffering, 
necessary in bearing to all people the glad tidings of 
great joy. 

Thus the love of Christ will ever operate as a mis- 
sionary principle, in proportion as the great work of 
publishing the gospel to every creature is presented to 
those who love him, as a work to be done, by the bless- 
ing of God upon their efforts and in answer to their 
prayers. 

Let us consider this topic — Love to Christ — as the 
animating motive to missionary effort. 

It is so, first, as it is a principle of obedience. The 
believer has chosen Christ as his Master and Lord ; he 
bows in willing subjection to his blessed authority ; 
but love to a master alwa} r s delights in obedience to his 
authority ; so Christ says : u If ye love me keep my 
commandments;" "He that hath my commandments 
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." 

He commanded his people, Go preach my Gospel to 
every creature ; go make disciples of all nations. This 
was his last command, his parting injunction as he as- 
cended to Heaven. He uttered it in immediate con- 



146 BEHMON& 

nexion witl} tlie assertion of his majesty and glory as 
mediator : All power is given to me, &c. ; Therefore 
go, &c, as if lie meant his people to regard it as the 
grand test of their loyalty to him. He annexed to it 
the promise of his gracious presence in every age : Go 
make disciples, &c, and, Lo ! I am with you always, &c, 
as if it were his purpose to identify it with all the most 
precious privileges of his people, and all their dearest 
hopes. He gave the command, after he had borne 
their sins in his own body on the cross, that they being 
dead unto sin might live unto God, and in full view of 
all the toil, and self-denial, and suffering it would cost 
his people to obey it. Primitive believers seem to have 
entered into his views ; they sympathized in his feel- 
ings ; whether they thought of him as dying for their 
sins, or rising again for their justification ; or ascending 
on high and entering into heaven as their advocate and 
representative ; or seated on his throne, to give effici- 
ency to the purposes of love for which he died. Every 
view of Christ was associated in their minds with the 
command, Go preach my Gospel. to every creature. 
In proportion as they loved him r „and rejoiced in him, 
they counted it a duty and a privilege to live unto him, 
for the great purpose for which he had redeemed them 
unto God by his blood. Love to their Master animated 
every effort, prompted every act of self-denial, made 
sacrifices easy and sufferings sweet, and suffered them 
not to rest till his last command was fully executed, and 
" Earth's remotest nation had heard Messiah's name." 

Again, Love to Christ wrought in the primitive Chris- 
tians as a missionary principle, as it filled them with 
ardent desires to please and honor him. 

When they meditated on his love to them ; on the 
mire from which he had redeemed them by his suffer- 
ings in their stead ; on the blessed privileges and hopes 



THE LOVE OF CHRIST IS TIIH MISSIONARY WORK. 147 

so dearly purchased and so freely bestowed on them ; 
when they looked up to Heaven and beheld him enter- 
ing there as their forerunner, ever living to intercede 
for them ; when they anticipated his second coming, in 
the glories of his Grodhead, to be glorified in his saints 
and admired in all them that believe in him, how could 
they refrain from asking in the fervor of grateful love, 
Lord, what wilt thou have us to do? How may we 
express our gratitude to thee? How may we show 
forth thy praise ? How may we please and honor thee, 
oh, thou who wast slain ? 

With such feelings of grateful love to Christ they 
looked around them, and saw his inheritance in the 
hands of his enemies ; the god of this world trampling 
upon his rights ; triumphing in the usurpation and rob- 
bery of his purchased possession ; they saw his name, 
and grace, and power, unknown ; or if known, dis- 
honored and despised ; souls for whom he died, led cap- 
tive by the devil at his will, going down under the 
bondage of error and sin to everlasting woe ; and they 
burned with holy zeal to vindicate their Master's honor 
and assert his rights. 

They knew that he was honored by the publication 
of his Gospel ; that by this rod of his strength he sub- 
dued the proud and stubborn heart, and reigned in the 
midst of his enemies ; they knew that every triumph 
of his grace, no matter how obscure and degraded the 
subject, gave new joy to his benevolent heart, and to 
the holy choirs that surround him, a new theme of 
praise ; they knew that every redeemed sinner would 
stand up before the holy universe a monument of his 
love, and add a new gem to his diadem of glory. 

When they thought of this and of Christ's love to 
them, they longed to publish everywhere his sufferings, 
his resurrection, and his glory ; to tell to all the world 



148 SERMONS. 

his love, and grace, and power to save. They thought 
no labors arduous, no sacrifices great, no sufferings 
severe, by which they might magnify his grace and 
win immortal souls to him. No region seemed remote, 
or dark, or perilous, where they might show forth the 
riches of his grace and gather jewels for his crown. 
Time, talents, influence, property, life itself, they counted 
not dear, if by these they might please and honor him. 
For this they encountered cold and hunger and naked- 
ness ; they shrank not from perils by land and perils 
by sea ; they quailed not at the terror of martyrdom. 

Again, love to Christ wrought in the primitive Chris- 
tians as a missionary principle, as it led them to desire 
to be like him and to enjoy communion with him. 

In him, they saw the perfection of moral beauty, and 
they longed to bear his image. They esteemed him 
the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely, 
and they were filled with intense desires to be like him, 
to breathe his spirit, and walk in his steps, and thus be 
fitted for communion with him on earth, and for blissful 
and everlasting fellowship with Christ in Heaven. 

But in labors, and prayers, and sacrifices, and suffer- 
ings for the promulgation of his gospel and the salvation 
of men ; in these things they were walking in his steps, 
seeking the very objects for which he toiled and died, 
and by means such as he used ! Thus they entered 
into his plans, they sympathized in his purposes and 
feelings of love and mercy, they became identified with 
him. How it sweetened toil and privation and suffering 
in this work, to recollect that he w r hom their souls loved, 
had thus wrought in the same work before them. Did 
they devote property to this object, selling houses and 
lands, and distributing with a liberal hand, when there 
was occasion for it ? — He had given all his riches, and 
made himself poor for the same object ! Did they give 



THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN THE MISSIONARY WORK. 140 

to the work time, and thought, and patient labor? — It 
occupied his thoughts, and filled his heart, and absorbed 
all his mighty energies ! Did they encounter opposition, 
and bitter scorn, and hazard life in the work? — lie 
had borne the contradiction of sinners against himself, 
and endured the cross, despising the shame, for the 
same blessed end. No matter how rough and toilsome 
the path of the heralds of salvation, their master had 
been there before them. There he had left his foot- 
prints to guide and to cheer them, and love delighted to 
follow him, and found a charm in sacrifices and suffer- 
ings, by which it was conformed to a suffering Saviour, 
and rilled up what was behind of his afflictions in their 
flesh, for his body's sake, the Church. 

Thus love to Christ wrought in his primitive disci- 
ples as the animating principle of missionary effort, 
constraining them to every labor, and sacrifice, and 
self-denial by which they might obey his last command, 
please and honor him who had bought them with his 
own blood, and cultivate a holy and blessed fellowship 
with him, in the very purpose and work of mercy, for 
which he laid down his life. 

Love to the Redeemer was the mighty principle, 
under whose sweetly constraining power that little band 
went forth to subdue the world to their crucified mas- 
ter, or to expend the last particle of their strength and 
treasure, and pour out the last drop of their blood in the 
effort ; and his presence went with them, and his pro- 
mised blessing rested on their labors, and nation after 
nation, buried for ages in error, pollution, and misery, 
awoke at the life-giving call from the long slumbers of 
spiritual death, and casting off its grave-clothes, put on 
robes of light and purity and joy. 

We may learn from this subject, 1st: The missionary 
character of true religion. 



150 SERMOKS. 

Love to Christ is the soul of piety in every pardoned 
sinner. It is first among the fruits of the Spirit. Com- 
mon to all of every name and in every place, who have 
tasted that the Lord is gracious. Preeminent among 
the Christian graces, it imparts beauty and value to them 
all ; it will endure and increase when faith is lost in 
vision, and hope swallowed up in enjoyment. " Whoso 
loveth, is born of God and knoweth God ;" but if any 
man loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathe- 
ma maranatha. And this love is the animating principle 
of missionary effort. In its earliest, purest, steadiest 
impulses ; it prompts the believer to do what he can to 
make known that Saviour who is precious to his own 
heart; that salvation in which he rejoices. There is the 
perennial fountain of toil and sacrifice and self-denial 
in spreading the Gospel through the world. It cannot 
fail, while the love of Christ dwells in the hearts of his 
people, nor while the Eternal Spirit performs his official 
work, shedding abroad that love in the hearts of par- 
doned sinners. Once this principle triumphed over all 
opposition, and undismayed by the terrors of martyr- 
dom, published salvation by the blood of Christ, where 
Satan had reigned unmolested through centuries of 
darkness, and had set in array against the gospel, the 
embattled hosts of earth and hell, and it is still the same 
in its heavenly origin, in its practical influence, in all 
its appropriate fruits. 

My brethren, is this the character of your religion ? 
Does love to Christ constrain you as it did his primitive 
disciples, to labor for the promotion of his cause, in 
obedience to his last command ; as an expression of 
your gratitude for his matchless mercies, that you may 
please and honor him, and that you may thus grow into 
his likeness, and ripen for everlasting communion with 



THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN THE MISSIONARY WORK. 151 

him, in the house of his Father and your Father, and 
his God and your God ? 

2d. We learn what is needed in order to the speedy 
propagation of the gospel through the world. We have 
the same gospel to publish which, in primitive times, 
spread abroad over the world with almost the rapidity 
of light. It has been committed to us, under the same 
command to publish it to every creature. We have 
the same promise of the presence of Christ to go with 
us when we go forth in obedience to him, the same 
promise of the Holy Spirit to be given in answer to 
prayer. In wealth and learning and facilities for tra- 
velling, and all the external means of instruction and 
impression, the resources of the Church now are greater 
beyond comparison than they were then, and the ob- 
stacles to the work in the unevangelized world, are far 
less formidable. The Providence of God has gone 
before us in a signal manner, opening a door of entrance 
to the dark places of the earth ; and the movements of 
his spirit awakening inquiry and a desire for instruc- 
tion, have been such, that at this hour the Macedonian 
cry, "Come over and help us," comes up to us in a 
thousand voices of agony from different and distant 
portions of the heathen world ! 

Why is it, then, that we move so tardily ? Why did 
their words go out to the ends of the world in less time 
than the whole Church we have has already taken to 
publish the glad tidings to less than a fiftieth part of 
our perishing fellow men ? Why is it that every year 
twenty millions pass into eternity without God, and 
having no hope, while we make known the way of sal- 
vation to one million? Why is it that even at this 
tardy rate of publishing the gospel, almost every mis- 
sionary society in the world is at this hour in advance 



152 SERMONS. 

of the contributions of the churches, and burdened with 
a debt ? 

Ah ! my brethren, we lack the animating principle, 
the moving power, the constraining influence to quicken 
and rouse to action all the energies of the disciples of 
Christ in this blessed work) to unite all hearts and 
hands in publishing salvation to a perishing w r orld. 



SERMON III. 

A VOICE FROM THE STEAMER ATLANTIC— THE FIELD 
WHITE FOR THE HARVEST* 

"Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already 
to harvest." — John iv. 35. 

Our Lord speaks in the text of Samaria. It was then 
ripe for the successful preaching of the Gospel; it 
needed but the reaper to enter in and gather fruit unto 
everlasting life. 

As it was then with Samaria, so is it now with the 
world, — the field into which he calls us to enter, and 
reap, and receive wages, and gather fruit unto ever- 
lasting life ; — it is white to the harvest. 

This truth I wish to illustrate in several particulars, 
and chiefly by an induction of facts, as they now exist, 
in the unevangelical world. 

And first, The world is open to the entrance of the 
Gospel. 

A few years since it was not so. The first mission- 
aries from our country to the distant heathen, embarked 
in 1812. For two years they had sought an eligible 
field of labor to which they might have access ; yet when 
they left their native land, it was like Abraham, not 
knowing whither they went. They saw two-thirds of 
the heathen population of the globe crowded together 
in southeastern Asia, in dense masses, groping their way 
to the grave and to the judgment without God, having 
no hope, and they bent their course to the distant shores 

* This sermon was rescued from the wreck of the Atlantic steamer. 



154 SERMONS, 

of British India. But an order ot the government 
commanding them to return in the same vessel that had 
carried them out, met them as they landed at Calcutta. 
In vain did they remonstrate, and entreat permission to 
preach Christ to the idolatrous subjects of a Christian 
government. They were compelled to separate, and 
search in distant regions some door of entrance to testify 
of Jesus, and salvation to the perishing heathen. One 
of them, through many trials, found a field of labor in 
the wilds of Burmah ; two others, after being repulsed 
at various points, and having manfully encountered 
opposition and persecution nearly two years, were 
barely suffered to commence on the western coast of 
India the first mission of the American Church among 
the distant heathen. 

Ten years later, when the first missionaries embarked 
for Western Asia, the undertaking was deemed perilous, 
and its practicability doubtful. It was hazardous then 
to speak to a votary of Mohammed of the claims of the 
Gospel. The first missionary printing establishment, 
for the benefit of those countries, was planted at Malta, 
700 miles distant, and remained there ten years, because 
it was not thought safe to place it anywhere in the 
Turkish empire. Twenty years ago a firman from the 
government forbade the distribution of the Scriptures 
in that empire, and commanded the seizure of s.uch 
copies as were already printed. 

For the evangelization of China, Morrison labored 
nearly thirty years ; yet he never ventured to enter the 
empire, nor to be known publicly among the Chinese 
as a Christian missionary. For a native of that coun- 
try to profess Christianity, or to read or distribute the 
Gospel, or even to teach a foreigner the language, was 
by the law of China a capital offence. 

Thus it was in India, and Western Asia, and China, 



THE FIELD WHITE FOR THE HARVEST. L5fl 

where dwelt four-fifths of tlie unevangclized population 
of the globe thirty years ago ! 

How is it now ? All India is open. The servant of 
Christ may traverse the land from Cape Comorin to the 
snowy mountains of the north, from the Indus to the 
Burrampooter, and preach Christ to 150,000,000 of ido- 
laters, with none to make him afraid. Everywhere 
the government protects him, and the people treat him 
with respect. If a thousand heralds of the cross should 
go out this year, every one might find there an open 
door, an ample field, a welcome from those already in 
the work. 

Missionary stations and printing establishments are 
now found in Turkey, and Syria, and Persia. Their 
books circulate from the Bosphorus to regions beyond 
the Euphrates, and from the shores of the Black Sea 
to the borders of Arabia. Groups of converts are 
found far in the interior, and inquirers after truth at 
all the centres of business, along the principal thorough- 
fares, and in many secluded villages. A numerous 
missionary corps reside at Constantinople under the 
eye of the Sultan, at the metropolis of the Mohamme- 
dan world. They have depots for the sale of books, 
numerous native helpers, boarding schools for the 
young, a seminary for the education of native teachers 
and preachers, chapels for the public preaching of the 
Gospel, and not less than twenty religious meetings 
every week. The city is filled with their doctrines, yet 
no man is permitted to do them harm. The great 
principles of religious toleration have been recognised 
by the rulers of Turkey and Persia, and public edicts 
have proclaimed that men shall no longer be put to 
death for changing their religion. 

China is open to Christian teachers ; their right to 
profess and propagate their religion is admitted; the 



15G sermo.nS. 

laws that forbade the Chinese to embrace it have been 
repealed, and the absolute ruler of 350,000,000 of ido- 
laters has declared that the religion of Jesus is good. 
How wonderful the changes of the last thirty years ! 
Who could have anticipated them ! With what rapid- 
ity have they followed each other ! They have opened 
a door of entrance for the heralds of salvation to 600,- 
000,000 of unevangelized men. Surely the fields are 
white to the harvest. 

2d. Facilities for conducting missionary operations 
have greatly increased. Thirty 3 r ears ago, it was not 
"uncommon for missionaries to be detained many months, 
waiting for a passage to heathen countries. Now, 
dela)^s from this cause are rare indeed. Opportunities 
are ten times as frequent as they were, and this at less 
expense, and with far better accommodations. 

So of correspondence. In the early yea^s of the A. 
B. C. F. M. this was tedious, irregular, and uncertain. 
To write to missions beyond the Cape of Good Hope, 
an (J receive answers, required from twelve to eighteen 
months ; now fewer weeks are needed, than were 
months then. Letters have been written to the mission 
at Bombay in August, and replies received at Boston 
in November. 

So of remittances for the support of missions, Thirty 
years ago it was necessary to purchase specie, pay 
freight and insurance, and consign it to an agent at the 
port, to which the vessel was bound. Thence it was 
conve} 7 ed by routes often difficult and expensive to the 
mission, to be taken care of and used as needed. The 
w r hole process was costly, tedious, uncertain, and haz- 
ardous. Losses bj^ fraud or robbery were not un- 
common. 

Now, the Treasurer of the Board drops into the mail 
a draught on its bankers in London, payable to the 



THE FIELD WHITE FOR THE HARVEST. 157 

order of a missionary at Bombay, or Madras?, or Canton, 
and the remittance goes to its destination as safely, and 
surely, and rapidly as a merchant in New Orleans 
remits to his correspondent in New York. Funds are 
thus sent, as soon as they are collected, to the remotest 
stations in the heathen world, and so of other supplies. 
How much have we gained in this respect ! For all 
purposes of intercourse and influence our missionary 
brethren, and the heathen among whom they labor, 
are at our doors. We have but to stretch out our 
hands and give them the bread of life. We may dis- 
tribute the Bible, or gather children into schools, or 
educate a promising youth in a Christian family, or 
support a native helper as a teacher, or catechist, or 
colporteur, or evangelist, in Turkey, or India, or China, 
or the distant isles, as easily as in our own country and 
at less expense. The same amount of contribution now 
tells on the great object far more directly and speedily 
than in former years. God has thus intrusted to us 
talents, to be occupied for him, in evangelizing the 
world, such as he never gave to our Fathers nor to any 
preceding generation, not even to the primitive Church. 
The fields are white to the harvest. 

3d. We have gained the confidence of those whose 
salvation we seek. Without this we could have little 
hope of success ; n or is it easy to secure it. The heathen 
are ignorant and wicked, and ignorance and wicked- 
ness are ever full of suspicion and slow to confide in 
strangers who approach them, with fair professions. 
They have commonly taken their first impressions of 
Christianity, not from Christian missionaries, but from 
those who have gone to them for the sake of gain, and 
to take advantage of their weakness. Hence a sense 
of injury, and ^bitter prejudices have combined with 

8 



158 SERMONS. 

their own wickedness, to shut their hearts against the 
Gospel. 

It was not till after much discussion that the first 
missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, were permitted 
to land, and then it was for one year only, and on trial. 
The second company were joyfully welcomed. 

With great difficulty the early missionaries to India 
prevailed on the people to give them their children to 
educate. They began with but two or three. More 
than once, at different stations, vague rumors of evil 
intentions spread such a panic among the people, that 
they hastily took away their children. So it was also 
in Western Asia. 

Now, in the Tamil and Mahratta missions, it is not 
possible to meet the demands of the people for educa- 
tion. Delegations come to them from distant towns 
and villages, entreating them to establish schools, and 
offering to build school-houses and aid in the support of 
teachers. When the missionaries give notice that they 
are willing to receive additional pupils to their boarding 
schools and seminaries, scores of applicants press upon 
them. If their ability to receive pupils were tenfold 
greater than it is, it would be taxed to the utmost. ."Not 
that the heathen love the gospel, or wish their children 
to become Christians, but they have learned to. confide 
in the ability and integrity and kindness of the mis- 
sionaries. They know that in their hands, their chil- 
dren will be well taught and kindly cared for. 

In the spring of 1845, when the civil war between 
the Druzes and Maronites of Mount Lebanon was 
about to commence, individuals of both the contending 
parties, committed their money and jewelry and other 
valuable effects, to the missionaries for safe keeping. 
Large amounts were thus intrusted to them, without 



THE FIELD WHITE FOR THE HARVEST. 159 

taking receipts or other evidence of the deposit. In 
the heat of that vindictive and bloody contest, they 
moved about among the combatants unmolested. Their 
houses were a place of refuge to hundreds of both par- 
ties, and the poor people felt safe in passing through 
scenes of deadly strife, if they were in train of an 
unarmed Missionary. These are but specimens of the 
manner in which our brethren have gained the confi- 
dence of the people, whose salvation they seek. And 
who are these Missionaries ? Our agents and represen- 
tatives, whom we have sent out. Through them, God 
has given to us, the confidence of our fellow-men in 
heathen lands. — He has intrusted to us, a precious 
talent, to be used for his glory, and their everlasting 
good. Thus the fields are white to the harvest. 

Again an impression has been made, almost through- 
out the heathen world, that their systems of religion 
are passing away, and that Christianity is destined to 
supplant them, and to be everywhere triumphant. 
Various causes have combined to make this impression. 

The superiority of Christian nations in arts and arms ; 
the progress of science and literature, detecting and 
exposing the gross errors embodied in the prevailing 
systems of false religion ; the political decay and 
downfall of the great Pagan and Mohammedan empires 
of the old world; the contempt everywhere poured 
upon idolatry by travellers, commercial agents, and 
seamen, from Christian countries; the imbecility and 
dotage of the great systems of false religion, once 
vigorous and active ; the fading splendor of their rites, 
and the tame and spiritless despondency of their vota- 
ries ; the loud call so often repeated, in so many lands, 
by so many voices of Christian missionaries, that men 
should forsake these vanities and seek the living God 
— these causes, coinciding with the movements of the 



160 SERMONS. 

providence and Spirit of God, have made such impres- 
sions, as I have stated, on millions of minds not yet so 
enlightened and convinced as to cast away their idols. 
And facts passing before them justify those impressions 
— Boodhism, by the confession of its High Priest, is 
ready to expire, in the land that gave it birth. Hin- 
dooism is denounced as an imposture and a fraud, by 
Hindoo writers, in the chief cities of India. Secessions 
from it are now taking place among Brahmins, in the 
heart of the country, under the government of native 
princes. The supreme head of the Mohammedan 
world has publicly renounced a fundamental maxim of 
the Koran, to which the system owed its early tri- 
umphs and its subsequent support, "that religion is to 
be maintained and propagated by the sword." 

The powers of darkness, so long lording it over the 
vast domain of heathenism, are like the Amorites when 
their iniquity was full, and Joshua led in the hosts of 
the Lord, to the land of promise; their defence has 
departed from them, and panic and dismay have gone 
forth among them — or like Herod and his Court, when 
they heard the inquiry of the wise men, — Where is he 
that is born King of the Jews, for we have seen his 
star in the East, and are come to worship him, and 
Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him ! In 
this respect, the way of the Lord is prepared. We go 
forth in his name, to encounter an enemy already 
struck with panic, and foreboding defeat and ruin. 
The fields are white. 

In the labors preparatory to the universal diffusion of 
the Gospel already performed, we find a fifth illustration 
of the text. 

The Bible has been already translated into the princi- 
pal languages of the world, and nine tenths of its hea- 
then population might now read in their own tongues 



THE FIELD WHITE FOR THE HARVEST. 1G1 

the wonderful works of God. Fifteen languages have 
been reduced to a written form by our own mission- 
aries, and the germs of all intellectual and moral pro- 
gress have thus been planted in so many desolate re- 
gions. They have translated the Bible into more than 
twenty, and prepared grammars, and dictionaries, and 
elementary religious tracts, in as many. 

So they have opened schools of various grades, and 
educated, more or less, many thousands of children and 
youth, now mingling with their ow r n people. Thus 
they have taught them the value of education, and 
created a desire and a demand for it where mind, dark 
and torpid, had slumbered for ages ; so that the people 
begin to put forth their own energies, and do what they 
can to obtain it for themselves. In many heathen 
countries the prejudice against female education, so 
widely spread and deeply rooted, has been overcome, 
and the fetters that bound one half the human family 
in a degrading and miserable slavery to the other, have 
been severed, and a gigantic obstacle to the elevation 
of society removed, and a work fairly commenced in 
India, and Western Asia, and the islands, which, if 
pursued, must ultimately renovate the whole frame- 
work of society, and make the domestic circle what it 
is in Christian lands — the home of intelligence and 
mutual respect and kindness, and the nursery of all 
that adorns and blesses man in this "world, and ripens 
him for heaven. In like manner institutions have been 
already formed to prepare native teachers and evange- 
lists in heathen countries ; and of these, some are al- 
ready yielding their first fruits for the healing of many, 
and their number and efficiency are constantly increas- 
ing ; all this, too, is of a permanent character. The 
heads that planned, and the hands that began to exe- 
cute, may slumber in the grave, but the work abides, to 



162 SERMONS. 

aid and encourage all who may yet go forth to the work 
of the Lord in those lands. One soweth and another 
reapeth, and lo ! the fields are white to the harvest. 

A sixth illustration of the text we find in the spirit 
of inquiry, the expectation of change, and the desire 
for improvement, so extensively awakened in the un- 
evangelized world. These may be seen, more or less 
distinctly, almost throughout Asia, on the coast of 
Africa, and in its dark interior, and among the count- 
less isles that dot the surface of the Pacific and Indian 
Oceans ; all classes participate in them — nominal Chris- 
tians, Jews, Mohammedans, and Pagans of every form 
of idolatry and every grade of civilization ; in Turkey 
and Syria, and portions of the Western and Southern 
coast of Africa, in Western, Southern, and Northern 
India, and part of the Indo-Chinese countries, they find 
utterance in earnest demands for instruction, demands 
that chide our tardy movements in obeying the com- 
mand of Christ to give his Gospel to every creature. 
And what means this dissatisfaction with the present, 
these anticipations of change, this restless longing for 
some improvement they scarce know what, or whence ? 
Are they not indications of a new era, even now com- 
mencing ? Look at them through the glass of prophecy, 
and behold, not transient meteors, flashing a moment- 
ary gleam over the sullen surface of night, but the 
first faint streaks of morning on the dark horizon, sum- 
moning the children of light and of the day to bestir 
themselves so much the more, as they see the day ap- 
proaching; incipient movements of the life-giving 
Spirit brooding over the dark mass of ruined mind, 
and ready to reduce the chaos to order, and cover it 
with beauty ! The fields are white already to harvest. 

Let us notice in 'the last place, as illustrating the text, 
the seal of God's approbation of missionary effort, in 



THE FIELD WHITE FOR THE HARVEST. 163 

the saving operations of his grace. What surer indica- 
tion that the fields are white than the first fruits, already- 
gathered. God gives us this encouragement. Of per- 
haps a thousand stations, formed by Christians of every 
name, in every part of the unevangelized world, nine 
tenths at least have rejoiced in the presence and power 
of the Holy Ghost, giving life to the dead in sin. 

Of our own missionary stations, numbering nearly 
one hundred, and stretching round the globe, there is 
scarcely one where the triumphs of divine mercy have 
not been witnessed opening the eyes of the i>lind, and 
turning them from darkness to light, and from the power 
of Satan unto God. Seventy -seven churches of con- 
verted heathens now contain more than 25,000 mem- 
bers in full communion, and from those churches thou- 
sands have already gone, rejoicing to mingle in the fel- 
lowship of the just made perfect. There are redeemed 
sinners of many tribes, and climes, and colors. Cathe- 
rine Brown and her parents and brothers of the red 
men of the forest ; and Kupiolani, and blind Bartimeus, 
with hundreds more, from the isles of the Pacific ; and 
the martyred Asaad of the Arab race, with the Arme- 
nian Sarkis, and Babajee, once a proud Brahmin in 
India ; and representatives of the treacherous Malay, 
and the dark tribes of Africa ; with Hall, and Newell, 
and Parsons, and Fisk, and Worcester, and Evarts, and 
Cornelius, all joining in the song of praise to him who 
loved them ; and welcomed by the church triumphant, 
and angels round the throne, as first fruits of the great 
harvest already white, and ere long to be gathered from 
all nations, and tongues, and people, with joy that will 
be new in heaven, and songs such as never yet made 
its arches ring and waked the echoes of eternity. 

Already hundreds of native laborers are connected 
with our own missions, and thousands, with those of 
our fellow Christians, of whom not a few are supported 



164 SERMONS. 

as teachers, pastors, and evangelists, by native churches, 
— and their numbers and efficiency are constantly in- 
creasing, — and over wide regions, where the chill, dark 
night of spiritual death has brooded for ages, the Spirit 
of God breathes upon the valley of dry bones, and as 
his servants prophesy, behold a noise and a shaking, 
and the bones come together, bone to his bone, and the 
sinews and the flesh come upon them, and the skin 
covers them, and they live! 

We very imperfectly appreciate the greatness and 
importance of that work of spiritual renovation that 
has been advancing, with growing power, for ten years 
past, among the Armenians of Turkey, till it attracts 
the eye and moves the heart of Christendom, and it has 
more recently commenced with signal power among 
the Nestorians of Persia. 

And now what practical inference should we draw 
from these facts ? What should be our spirit and atti- 
tude at such a time ? Have we not cause to thank God 
and take courage ? Has he not heard our prayers and 
smiled on our efforts? Is not the Lord on our side? 
Do not his Providence and Spirit accompany us ? yea y 
go before us in our obedience to his command ? Who 
could have foreseen such results in so short a time, and 
from such feeble beginnings I If Samuel J. Mills, who, 
under God, gave the first impulse to this work, and de- 
parted to his rest, should now revisit us, what would 
be his emotions ! 

We can hardly measure what has been gained, be- 
cause so much of the work is preparatory, and looks 
forward to results not yet developed ; and because, as 
the Gospel moves onward, like the leaven, its self-pro- 
pagating power acts with growing energy, and in an 
ever widening sphere ; and most of all, because it is 
made efficient by a Divine influence, to be poured out 



THE FIELD WHITE FOR THE HARVEST. 165 

ere long, according to promise, as floods on the dry 
grounds. Those who come after us will be more com- 
petent than" we are to measure the effects of translating 
the Bible into so many languages, and publishing the 
glad tidings to so many nations, and letting in the first 
rays of heavenly light on so many regions of darkness 
and the shadow of death ! 

But have we labored in vain, or spent our strength 
for naught ? Have we not ample cause of thanksgiv- 
ing and praise ! 

Again : are we not called to go forward in this work 
with stronger faith, and higher hopes, and larger plans, 
and a more generous love to Christ and to the souls of 
men ! It is not to be denied or concealed that we are 
falling behind our work ; or rather, the providence and 
Spirit of God are far outstripping our tardy move- 
ments. The growth of the missionary spirit at home 
has not kept pace,*for ten years past, with the success 
of the missionary work abroad. At this hour the 
ripened harvest is falling and perishing for want of 
reapers. God has raised up many helpers among the 
heathen, or the case had been far worse than it is. 
Shall we sleep in the time of harvest ? or shrink from 
gathering the fruits of past toil ? That were folly and 
shame indeed. If the fields are white, let us enter in 
and reap, and receive wages, and gather fruit unto life 
eternal. The " Breaker " has gone up before us. The 
pillar of cloud and fire moves onward towards the land 
of promise. Shall we not follow ? 

When the valleys are exalted, and the mountains are 
brought low, and the crooked ways are made straight, 
and the rough places plain, that the glory of the Lord 
may be revealed, and all flesh may see it together, shall 
we not be up and doing, and so much the more as we 
see the day approaching ! 

8* 



SERMON IV. 

CHRIST, THE POWER OF GOD IN THE SALVATION 

' OF MEN. 

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye there- 
fore and make disciples of all nations." — Matthew xxviii. 18, 19. 

The speaker in the text is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
He has risen from the dead ; he is ready to ascend to 
the glory which he had with the Father before the 
world began. It is his last earthly interview with those 
whom he had chosen to bear his name, and publish his 
message of mercy. He thus asserts his own dominion 
and majesty, and gives a commission, extending to the 
whole world and enduring to the £nd of time. The 
power he here claims is of a peculiar character, and 
conferred upon him for special purposes. He speaks 
of himself not simply as God, nor yet simply as man, 
but as the mediator of the new covenant, divinely 
appointed ; and furnished for the work of redemption, 
and combining Deity and humanity, in his own person. 
Let us consider the power and glory of Christ as Media- 
tor, and its connection with the command to make 
disciples of all nations. 

The Bible teaches that this power was given to Christ, 
as the fruit and the reward of his sufferings to make 
atonement for sin. Being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross ; wherefore God also hath 
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is 
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, 



CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF MEN. 167 

and things under the earth ; and every tongue confess 
that Jesus Christ -is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
And again, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower 
than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned 
with glory and honor. It was the prospect of this 
exaltation, and of the revenue of praise to the blessed 
God, and holiness and happiness to fallen man, which 
it insures, that sustained the holy and compassionate 
Eedeemer as he passed through those humiliations and 
sorrows by which he attained it. For the joy set before 
him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is 
set down at the right hand of •the throne of God. It 
was assured to him by the unfailing promise of God, as 
the reward of his sufferings, and immediately consequent 
upon his resurrection from the dead. 

Now he had drained the cup of sorrow. By his own 
death he had conquered sin, and death, and hell ; from 
the grave he had risen triumphant ; all power was his 
in Heaven and in earth; the portals of glory were 
opened before him; he stood at the threshold ready 
to sit down upon that throne, where he must reign till 
he hath put all things under his feet. 

This power and glory were conferred upon him, that 
he might execute those plans and purposes of eternal 
love and mercy, according to which he laid down his 
life. Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be 
a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, 
and the remission of sins. God hath set him far above 
all principality and power and might and dominion, 
and every name that is named, and hath put all things 
under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things, 
to the Church which is his body, the fulness of him, 
that filleth all in all. It is as the Eedeemer of lost sin- 
ners, for their salvation from sin and death ; it is as the 
great head of the Church, for the protection, support, 



268 SERMONS. 

and consolation of his people, and their ultimate eternal 
glory and happiness ; it is for the destruction of Satan's 
empire, the recovery of our rebellious world to its 
allegiance to God, and the univeral and everlasting 
establishment of the kingdom of righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, that Jesus is exalted 
as Mediator. These are the special purposes for which 
all power in Heaven and earth is given to him. 

The power conferred upon him for these purposes, 
reaches all worlds, extends through all time, and em- 
braces all agents and all events so far as they are 
connected with the welfare of his Church, the salvation 
of his people, and the complete eternal triumph of his 
cause. Mute unconscious nature is obedient to his will ; 
all her elements are controlled by him. The providen- 
tial government of the world is in his hands. He orders 
the times and the seasons ; nations rise and prosper, or 
decay and perish at his bidding ; he guides and shapes 
at his pleasure, the earthly destinies of men. Good 
men are willingly subject to his authority, joyfully they 
cooperate with him in advancing the great purpose for 
which he is exalted. He has power over the wicked 
to restrain their enmity and overrule their bitterest 
opposition for the promotion of his cause, or to subdue 
their hearts by his grace, and transform them into 
friends. 

Evil spirits are put under his dominion. All their 
craft, and might, and malice, are subject to his sway. 
Not a hair's breadth beyond his permission can they 
go to harass and tempt his people, or to hinder the 
triumphs of his Gospel. 

Angels and principalities and powers in heavenly 
places, are obedient to him ; as ministering spirits they 
go forth at his bidding to minister to the heirs of salva- 



CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF MEN. 169 

tion, doing his commands, and helping on his work of 
saving mercy. 

It hath pleased the Father, that in him should all 
fulness dwell, yea in him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily, not figuratively, or emblematically, or 
transiently, but really, substantially, permanently. All 
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, of holiness and 
consolation, of grace and strength, suited to the wants 
of those for whom he died, and sufficient to make them 
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in 
light, are in his hands ; there deposited for the good of 
his people and the advancement of his cause ; and by 
him administered in subserviency to the great ends for 
which he died, and rose, and reigns. 

The Holy Spirit, in the fulness of his enlightening, 
new creating, and sanctifying influences, is called in the 
Scriptures the Spirit of Christ, because, in the economy 
of redemption, he operates according to the will of 
Christ, making the Gospel of Christ the power of God 
unto salvation to all them that believe, and dwelling in 
the Church of Christ, that it may be sanctified and 
cleansed and presented to him, a glorious Church, not 
having spot or wrinkle, or. any such thing ; and that 
out of it may flow rivers of living waters, making glad 
the wilderness and the solitary place, and causing the 
desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. 

He has power over death and the world of Spirits ; 
to him it belongeth to raise up and to put down ; to 
kill and to make alive ; he openeth and no man shut- 
teth ; he shutteth and no man openeth. 

All the resources that Infinite Wisdom sees needful 
to carry into perfect execution the plans of everlasting 
love and mercy in the salvation of sinners, the redemp- 
tion of this world from the ruins of its apostasy, and 
its complete and final restoration to holiness and happi- 



170 SERMONS. 

ness, all these are in the hands of Jesus Christ, exalted 
as he now is to the mediatorial throne, and made head 
over all things to the church which he has purchased 
with his own blood ; and all this power he will hold 
and exercise to the end of time, and to the full and 
everlasting completion of that work of mercy for which 
he laid down his life. At the grand consummation, 
his voice shall wake the dead, and gather all the sons 
of men before the tribunal of eternal judgment ; he 
shall make the final separation of the righteous and 
the wicked ; to Him shall every one of us give account 
of himself in the great day of trial and decision ; his 
sentence shall consign his impenitent enemies to the 
prison of despair, and welcome his ransomed people to 
the mansions of holiness and joy he has prepared for 
them. 

There he will for ever appear in the midst of his re- 
deemed, in his glorified humanity, their elder brother, 
the first-born from the dead, the author of salvation, the 
centre of all eyes and all hearts, uniting the world of 
ransomed sinners to the blessed Grod by new and pecu- 
liar bonds, and the medium through which new and 
peculiar manifestations of divine glory, and communica- 
tions of divine blessedness, shall flow out upon them 
for ever. 

Such, briefly and imperfectly, are the majesty and 
glory of Christ as mediator; such the authority and 
power, reaching all worlds, extending through all time, 
and embracing all agents and all events which he claims 
as given to him, that he may complete the work of re- 
deeming mercy for which he laid down his life ; and, 
therefore, he commissions his servants to make disciples 
of all nations, baptizing them in his name, and teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever he has com- 
manded. 



CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF MEN. l7l 

Here, in close connexion with the assertion of his 
own majesty and glory as King of Kings and Lord of 
Lords ; here, in the exercise of that supreme authority 
which he had won by his toils and sufferings for the glory 
of God in the salvation of men ; here, in his last inter- 
course with his chosen disciples,he gives to his church the 
great charter of her privileges and hopes ; to the gospel 
ministry its broad enduring commission ; to all who 
profess to love him, a permanent test of their allegiance 
and loyalty ; and he identifies obedience to this com- 
mand with all that is most precious to his people in time 
and eternity, by its connexion with the promise: "Lo, 
I am with you always, even to the end of the world." 

We have here an ample warrant to seek and expect 
the conversion of the world ; the charter of the church 
covers the whole earth ; the commission of the ministry 
embraces all nations ; the great Eedeemer contem- 
plates the willing subjection of every creature to his 
authority ; whatever authority he has given to his peo- 
ple to make known his grace to their own households, 
the very same authority have they to publish his gospel 
to every creature ; whatever warrant they have to seek 
the salvation of their own families, the very same war- 
rant have they to make disciples of all nations ; they 
are authorized to claim for him every inch of territory 
on earth, and the love and confidence of every human 
heart. Such a commission he gave in the last accents 
that fell from his lips, ere he ascended to heaven ; and 
he had a right to give it ; all things are his ; by him 
they are sustained ; for him they exist ; he is Lord of 
all, and heir in all things ; the earth is the Lord's, and 
the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell 
therein ; the heathen are his inheritance, the uttermost 
parts of the earth are his possession ; the man of sin, 
the false prophet, the demon gods that receive the horn- 



1*72 8ERM0SS. 

age of millions, the idols of wood and earth and stone 
to which they bow down, are usurpers of the rights of 
Christ, and they must be cast down and utterly demo- 
lished ; all the forms of infidelity, error, and supersti- 
tion, that have reigned over the prostrate millions of 
our race, in pollution, and terror, and blood, through 
centuries of darkness and sorrow, are thieves and rob- 
bers of that which belongs to Christ, that which is his 
by a title that cannot be questioned ; his by the pur- 
chase of his blood ; his by the gift of the Eternal Fa- 
ther, ratified in his resurrection from the dead ; his by 
his exaltation at the right hand of the heavenly majes- 
ty ; and sentence has gone forth against them ; their 
doom is sealed ; they shall be destroyed ; to his blood- 
bought church he has given a commission to assert his 
right ; to claim for him the supreme love and confidence 
of every creature ; to make disciples of all nations. 
Under this commission they are to go forth, employing 
all the means he has intrusted to them, relying upon 
his word of promise for success ; asserting his claims to 
every human heart, and never retiring from the field, 
never pausing in their onward march till all opposition 
is subdued, and Jesus Christ is crowned Lord of all. 

2d. We see here the obligation which rests on all who 
have the gospel, to publish it to their fellow men, and to 
labor for the conversion of the world. 

It is Christ himself who summons all who hear his 
word, to engage in this work. The command is ex- 
press, it is unequivocal. He has connected it inseparably 
with the assertion of his power and glory as Mediator, 
as if he would have us to look upon it as the grand law 
of his mediatorial kingdom; the decisive test of our 
allegiance to him as King in Zion ; the indispensable 
condition of our personal interest in the blessings of his 
mediation ; to enforce which, he has for ever pledged 



CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF MEN. 1*73 

all his resources, as Mediator. It binds all who hear 
it, to submit to his authority and embrace his mercy 
for themselves ; and to do all they can, to bring all men 
everywhere to the same willing submission and affec- 
tionate trust. It puts under requisition for this purpose, 
all the means adapted to it, according to God's revealed 
plan, for the conversion of the world ; and to the full 
extent needed for its complete execution. All the time, 
and treasure, and labor ; all the consecrated talent and 
learning ; all the believing prayer and heroic self- 
denial, to the sacrifice of earthly prospects, and health, 
and life itself, necessary to the conversion of the world, 
are, by this command of him who is King in Zion, 
solemnly claimed for this great work. To reject this 
claim or by any means to evade it, is virtually to reject 
his authority as Mediator, nullify the fundamental law 
of his mediatorial kingdom, and forfeit all title to the 
blessings of redemption through his blood, and all hope 
of appearing with him in glory, when he shall appear 
to be admired in his saints, and glorified in them that 
believe. It does not, indeed, require all to go forth in 
person to publish the gospel ; but it does require all to 
hold forth the word of life, by a holy example ; by 
personal effort in the sphere of their personal influence ; 
and, by fervent prayer, affectionate sympathy, and in 
generous contribution of the means of support and use- 
fulness, to be fellow helpers of those who for his name's 
sake go forth to preach his gospel to the nations. Thus 
it reaches the Christian merchant and mechanic, the 
farmer and the professional man, and the laborer, and 
the Christian female, in all the varied walks of useful- 
ness where they are called to serve Christ and rejoice 
in him, as really as it does the Christian pastor, or the 
missionary of the cross. It lays all under obligations 
equally imperative and sacred. It is the great law of 



174 SERMONS. 

the Mediator's kingdom, binding all who profess loyalty 
to him, as they trust in his mercy and hope for his 
promised blessedness and glory, to join heart and hand 
in the blessed work of bringing the whole world to bow 
to his authority and rejoice in his love. Hear him, O 
ye, whom he has bought with his own blood ; hear him, 
from his throne of glory, saying to you, " All power is 
given unto me in Heaven and in earth ; go ye therefore 
and make disciples of all nations ! n Has he intrusted 
to you, anything needed in this work : property, 
skill in business, talent, learning, influence, power in 
prayer, your sons, or daughters, or yourself. Hear 
him, once crucified for you, now exalted far above 
principalities and powers, and might, and dominion, and 
every name that is named in heaven and earth. Sear 
him calling upon you for the willing consecration of 
all to him in this blessed work ! 

Finally, we see in this subject the assurance of ulti- 
mate success in the work of converting the nations to 
God. 

That work is vast and arduous. If our trust was in an 
arm of flesh, we might well despair. ISTo human power 
and wisdom has ever yet been sufficient to deliver one 
soul from the bondage of sin, and bring one heart to 
bow in willing subjection to the Saviour. What hope, 
then, of the emancipation of six hundred millions from 
the thraldom of error, superstition, and wickedness, by 
which they have been oppressed and crushed for ages, 
by the feeble efforts of a few imperfect Christians ! If 
we went forth to this work in our own strength, our 
movements might well provoke the mockery and scorn 
of the malignant spirits who rule over the darkness of 
this world. But in the name of the Lord of hosts we 
set up our banners. He who has all power in Heaven 
and earth, has commissioned his people to make disci- 



CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF MEN. 175 

pies of all nations. The shout of a King is in the 
midst of the hosts of the Lord, as at his command they 
go forth to publish his Gospel. Yea, the Breaker is 
gone up before them, and the worm Jacob shall thrash 
the mountains. No matter though their numbers and 
resources were far less than they are, and the power of 
the adversary a thousand fold greater ; his power and 
wisdom are infinite, and they will be the more illustrious 
in the final triumph, in proportion to the arduousness 
of the work, and the feebleness of the means. He 
employs his people in this work, not because he needs 
their aid, but for their good, as a moral discipline and 
training, by which they are taught to sympathize with 
him in the plans and purposes of his love and mercy, 
and ripened for more intimate and blissful communion 
and fellowship with him, in time and through eternity. 
And in proportion as his benevolent desires for their 
entire consecration to him, and their joy in him are 
thus accomplished, he will give to their prayerful 
believing efforts, a power and a success surpassing all 
they had dared to anticipate or could have imagined. 
How often already hath his strength been made perfect 
in weakness, as in the primitive triumph of his gospel. 
When a few obscure and unlearned Jews began to 
publish salvation through his blood, in the very city 
where he had just suffered an ignominious death, and 
the word went forth through Judea, and Samaria, and 
Galilee, and thence into Asia Minor and Greece, and 
Italy, and onward still, till the sound had gone out to 
the ends of the earth, and in thirty years disciples were 
multiplied in every part of the known world ; and in 
our own day, what triumphs has the gospel achieved 
among Pagan tribes, remote from each other, diverse in 
manners, habits, and disposition, and stamped with 
every repulsive feature of dark, debasing, fiend-like 



176 SERMONS. 

depravity. The ferocious cannibal of New Zealand, who 
made war and murder his pastime, has bowed in sweet 
submission to the Prince of peace. The obscene and 
cruel Tahitian and Hawaian have been washed from 
their pollutions, and put on the likeness of the spotless 
Lamb. The brutish Hottentot and the stupid Esqui- 
maux have heard the word of Christ, and learned to 
rejoice in his love and to sing his praises. The vindic- 
tive savage has been taught to love his enemies, and to 
exchange the war-whoop for the song of praise. And 
at this hour how extensively, through the unevangelized 
world, has he gone before his people, removing obsta- 
cles, breaking dovvn opposition, multiplying facilities, 
waking up a spirit of inquiry and a desire for instruc- 
tion, and impressing the mind of men with a conviction 
that old systems of error and superstition are passing 
away, and that vast and momentous changes are at 
hand. But if we had none of these recorded triumphs 
of his cross to encourage us, no visible indications of 
the dawn of a brighter day to cheer us, the power and 
glory of Christ give ample assurance of success. "We 
go forth at his command. His promise cannot fail. 
The work is his, not ours. While he is on the throne, 
a Prince, a Saviour, to give repentance and the forgive- 
ness of sins, we cannot labor in vain. No effort, no 
sacrifice, no prayers for his cause, prompted by obedient 
love to him, can be lost to that cause, or be forgotten by 
him at his second coming. 



SERMON V. 
THE LIVING WATERS. 

"But whosoever drinketh of the waters that I shall give him shall 
never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a 
well of water, springing up into everlasting life." — John iv. 14. 

It was said of Jesus by a certain class of men, " Never 
man spake like this man." It was true, not only 
as to the sublimity and importance of the truths he 
taught, but also as to the plain and simple, yet forci- 
ble manner, of his teaching; his illustrations were 
drawn from the most common and familiar objects ; 
frequently from objects that were before the eyes of 
his hearers while they listened to him ; hence, though 
he spoke of spiritual and unseen realities, no teacher 
was ever so easily understood ; the weakest of his 
hearers was in no danger of mistaking his meaning, if 
he did but sincerely desire instruction. So in the text. 
He was now at Jacob's well, near Sychar, or in the Old 
Testament, Sychem, conversing with a woman who had 
come to draw water from the well. She was thought- 
less, ignorant, and sinful. He designed to teach her 
that she was a lost sinner ; to awaken her desires after 
salvation, and to reveal himself to her, the all suffi- 
cient Saviour of the lost. For this purpose he intimat- 
ed to her, after she had expressed her surprise at his 
asking him for water to quench his thirst, that he was 
able to bestow upon her that which was as important 
for the life of the soul, as the water she had come to 
draw was for the body. When her curiosity was thus 



178 SERMONS. 

excited, he replied to her inquiry, "Whence hast thou 
this water?" by reasserting more plainly, and in stronger 
language, what he had just said; as if he had said to 
her, Your soul has wants as real and as urgent as those 
sensations of thirst which have brought you to this well 
to-day ; as the waters of this well are suited to the 
wants of your body, so the blessings which I give are 
adapted to the necessities of 3^our soul ; ask of me and 
I will bestow that which will satisfy your soul, as this 
water quenches thirst ; more than this, I am ready to 
do for you ; you drink of these waters and are refresh- 
ed, but the benefit you receive is temporary and par- 
tial ; soon you will thirst again, and that body, to 
whose wants you minister, will speedily decay and die, 
and return to the dust from which it sprung ; but the 
blessings I give yield permanent satisfaction to the 
soul ; they abide with it, and are in it, the pledge and 
assurance, yea, the very germ and principle of unde- 
caying immortal life. Hunger and thirst, the two lead- 
ing, universal sensations, which point men to that 
which is indispensable to the support of animal life, 
are the significant emblems by which God, in the bible, 
often presses upon the attention of men, the necessities 
of their spiritual, immortal part. And the provisions 
of his infinite mercy, to save our souls, are shadowed 
forth by those objects that relieve us when hungry 
and thirsty. Thus it is written, "Ho! everyone that 
thirsteth ;" " I am the bread of life," &c. Gospel bless- 
ings are to the needy soul, as bread and water to the 
famishing body — indispensable, appropriate, nutritious, 
satisfactory, yea, like wine and milk, eminently grate- 
ful and cheering. The life which is sustained and 
cherished in the body by the one, like the body in which 
it dwells, is frail and evanescent. The other abides in 
the soul, a principle of action and enjoyment, perma- 



THE LIVING WATERS. 179 

nent and deathless like itself. It is bread of life, water 
of life. If we may distinguish these emblems as special- 
ly appropriate to distinct parts of the great salvation, 
the first shadows forth the atoning sacrifice of the in- 
carnate Son of God ; the meritorious cause of every 
gracious communication from our righteous Sovereign 
to his rebellious subjects ; the only medium of our re- 
conciliation to that God who is of purer eyes than to 
behold iniquity ; the sole foundation of every solid 
hope of pardon and eternal life, that ever relieved the 
burdened conscience of a sinner, or alleviated his trials 
in life, or dispelled his fears, and calmed his agitated 
spirit in a dying hour. " My flesh," saith he, " is meat 
indeed ; " I am the living bread.' 7 

The second is the appropriate emblem of those in- 
fluences of the Holy Spirit which the risen, exalted 
Saviour sheds down upon men, as the precious fruit of 
his obedience unto death in our place. The sure testi- 
mony and pledge of his power and willingness to save, 
and the immediate efficient agent in enlightening the 
minds and renovating the hearts of men, that by their 
voluntary submission to his authority, and confiding 
trust in his promises, they may have a personal interest 
in all the blessings he has purchased by his obedience 
unto death. So it is 'written, " I will pour water on 
him that is thirsty ;" and on the last day of the feast of 
tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried, saying : "If any 
man thirst," &c. This, then, is the water of which 
he speaks in the text. The powerful and abundant 
influences of his Holy Spirit, as refreshing, as invigo- 
rating to the soul as living water to the thirsty ; cleans- 
ing it from the pollutions of sin, as by water, making 
it fruitful in those pure desires, and holy purposes, and 
devout and benevolent emotions and acts which are 
well pleasing to God, as those refreshing showers which 



180 6ERMOKS. 

clothe the landscape with verdure and beauty, and 
bring forward the precious fruits of the earth, when the 
winter is over and gone. Of these spiritual influences, 
Jesus Christ teaches in the text that they give perma- 
nent satisfaction to the soul. " Whoso drinketh the 
water that I shall give him shall never thirst ;" and that 
they are in the soul the preparation and the pledge, 
yea, the foretaste and commencement of eternal life. 

In illustration of these truths, consider what is the 
appropriate work of the Holy Ghost in the gospel plan 
of redemption. I do not stop now to prove what the 
bible everywhere teaches, and the observation and ex- 
perience of every serious and candid mind abundantly 
confirm, that our moral nature is in a state of deplora- 
ble disorder and ruin. We bear about with us a con- 
sciousness of ill desert at the hand of that glorious, 
awful being, who made us, and governs us, and will 
bring us into judgment. We are conscious of insatia- 
ble longings after rest and enjoyment, such as no earth- 
ly pursuit or attainment can permanently bestow. We 
tremble at the prospect of death, and shrink back from 
that unseen world to which we are hastening, because 
Ave dislike the holiness and dread the justice of the God 
of eternity. 

Now, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to lead men 
into all the truth by which they are saved. To give to 
those amazing facts which are embodied in the system 
of redeeming mercy, wrought out and revealed by the 
Son of God, a living reality before the mind, and a 
transforming power over the heart. He enlightens, 
and renews, and sanctifies ; he convinces of sin. and 
righteousness, and judgment; he takes the things of 
Christ and shows them to men ; by his silent and gentle, 
yet powerful influences, men are made willing to believe 
the declarations, obey the precepts, and trust the pro- 



THE LIVING WATERS. 181 

rnises of God. Thus they arc set free from error, their 
hearts are purified, and they are kept from the evil 
that is in the world : " they bring forth the fruit of 
the Spirit, love, joy," &c. With the believing and obe- 
dient he dwells as the comforter, making every means 
of grace effectual, sanctifying every dispensation, and 
causing all things to work together for their best 
good — " a witnessing and sealing spirit," &c. Thus 
he probes the wound of our nature to its bottom, 
and applies the healing balm ; he lays open our moral 
diseases in all their malignity and inveteracy, and dis- 
covers and administers to us the sovereign remedy ; for 
our conscious guilt he leads us to the atoning blood and 
perfect righteousness 'of him who died for our sins, and 
rose from the dead, to justify our faith and hope in him. 
Those desires of good, those large and lofty aspirations 
which nothing earthly can satisfy, he lifts above the 
world, and fills them with the faith and hope of unseen 
eternal joys ; and when sin is pardoned, and the mind 
has formed acquaintanceship with God and heavenly 
things, and the heart a relish for holy employment, so- 
ciety and joys, death is disarmed, and eternity, awful 
as it is to flesh and blood — which cannot enter it save 
through the dark and silent chambers of the sepulchre 
— eternity is anticipated by the regenerated spirit as its 
proper country — its home, beloved and longed for. 
Thus, by the spirit of Christ, a sinner is reconciled to 
God, to his dutj 7 -, to the inevitable trials of his earthly 
lot, and to the destiny that awaits him when he goes 
hence. He has peace with God, peace of conscience, 
and a calm and peaceful frame. Here he finds solid 
and permanent satisfaction — that which is suited to his 
nature, to his character, to his circumstances. He who 
had sought in vain to quench his thirst at the streams 
of earthly good, drinks at this fountain and thirsts no 

9 



182 SERMONS. 

more. Bear witness ye who have made the trial. 
" There be many that say, who will show us any 
good?" The inward peace and satisfaction imparted 
to the soul by the spirit of Christ, are not like that 
which the world confers upon its most favored vota- 
ries ; that is even richer in promise than in perform- 
ance ; its charms fascinate us in their pursuit, but fade 
and vanish in possession ; whatever value may attach 
to any of its objects constantly diminishes, because the 
hour of our final separation from them constantly draws 
nearer. They are springs that cease to flow in the time 
of drought ; streams that evaporate and are lost amid 
arid sands; in the striking language of the prophet, 
waters that fail — allusion here to the mirage. But saith 
Jesus, "He that drinketh of the water that I shall give 
shall never thirst." To the humble, obedient believer, 
he gives the Spirit to abide with him for ever ; he is a 
temple of the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in him. 
The effect is, growth in grace, progress in knowledge, 
holiness and joy, increasing confidence in the merits of 
Christ, love to him and his cause, delight in his service, 
and conformity to his example, "his peace is like a 
river," &c. The spirit of Christ, in his soul, is as a 
well of water, pure, refreshing, perennial, and these 
waters spring up into everlasting life. The character 
which the spirit forms in him is holy and heavenly in 
its principles and tendency, as well as in its origin. 
The habits of thought, and feeling, and conduct, thus 
acquired, and habitually strengthened and consolidated, 
are such as prepare the believer for the work, the wor- 
ship, communion and joy of heaven. And while he 
is thus made meet for the kingdom of heaven, his title 
to it is ascertained and certified. " We know that if 
our earthly house were dissolved, we have a building of 
God, a house not made with hands." Nay, the work 



THE LIVING WATERS. 183 

of the Spirit in the believer is not only th e preparation 
but the foretaste, not only the pledge but the earnest. 
This is the full meaning of the expression, " It shall be 
in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting 
life.' 7 M So he that believeth hath life ;" " We that be- 
lieve do enter in." He hath given the earnest, a part 
of the purchased possession, the same in kind. What 
is everlasting life ? Is it enlarged, distinct, ever-increas- 
ing knowledge? "He who commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." Is it 
perfect holiness ; freedom and fervor in love ? Now 
they are set free from the power of sin, renewed in the 
Spirit, delight in the law. Is it joy, exceeding great? 
Now they rejoice in Christ ; they have peace and joy ; 
they rejoice in hope of the glory. Is it the fellowship 
of just men made perfect ? Here they commune with 
the saints, take sweet counsel. Is it to dwell in the 
house of the Lord for ever ? Here they go into his 
courts ; they see him in his ordinances ; they are 
satisfied. 

Grace and glory are connected, as the seed time and 
the harvest, as the bud with the blossom, the dawn with 
full day, the same in kind they differ in degree. 

There, they eat the fruit of the tree of life, and drink 
the waters of the river of life ; but here, they feed upon 
Jesus Christ, the living bud. " And the water that he 
giveth shall be in him a well of water springing up 
into everlasting life." 



SERMON VI. 

THE CROSS OF CHRIST. • 

" But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." — Galatians vi. 14. 

By the cross of Christ, as the phrase is used in the 
New Testament, we are to understand sometimes those 
trials, losses, reproaches, and sufferings to which be- 
lievers submit in obedience to the command of Christ, 
and out of love to him. But more frequently it signi- 
fies those various and protracted humiliations, sorrows, 
and sufferings, by which our blessed Eecleemer wrought 
out redemption for his people. This is no doubt its 
meaning in the text. Taking it in this sense, one is 
ready to consider this a very strange and surprising 
declaration of the Apostle. If he had gloried in the 
miraculous power, wisdom, and love of Christ, or in his 
glorious resurrection from the dead, or in his triumphant 
ascension to heaven, or in his exaltation at the right 
hand of the majesty on high and the mission of the 
Eternal Spirit to bear testimony to his Messiahship, and 
to convert the nations to the faith ; this had not been 
wonderful ; for in these things his power and Godhead 
are manifested, and a rational immortal creature may 
well glory in them, if he can claim any peculiar relation 
to him. But to glory in his cross ; that which has 
ever been a reproach, — to the Jews a stumbling-block, 
and to the Greeks foolishness; that with which the 
utmost ignominy and anguish are closely associated! 
that he should have gloried in this, how surprising. 
The expression implies, that he regarded the cross of 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 185 

Christ with a high degree of esteem and complacency, 
as important and excellent. We do not glory in any- 
thing unless we see in it a worth and beauty that attract 
our esteem, and the strong expression, " God forbid 
that I should glory in anything, but the cross of Christ," 
plainl} T implies that to his view its value and loveliness 
were unparalleled and incomparable. 

It implies, moreover, that he was conscious of a per- 
sonal interest in the sufferings of Christ, and a peculiar 
relation to them ; that to him the cross of Christ stood 
in intimate connexion with benefits that were very 
precious, and hopes most dear to his heart. We do not 
glory in any object unless we have in some way a 
personal interest in it. I may regard the character of 
a great and good man with esteem and admiration, 
though I am no way connected with him. But I do 
not glory in him unless he is my relative, or friend, or 
countryman. So, glorying in the cross implies an ap- 
propriation to ourselves of something in that object, or 
flowing from it, which we highly prize. 

Lastly, glorying in the cross implies an open declara* 
tion and avowal of the emotions of esteem with which 
we regard it, and the blessings we receive or expect 
from it. So that however others may look upon it 
with coldness or contempt, or reproach us for our ad- 
herence to it, we count it honor and happiness to be 
known as its friends and advocates. Thus did the 
Apostle glory in the cross of Christ ; and his language 
intimates a comparative disesteem and disregard of all 
his other possessions. His great talents and profound 
learning in which he had few superiors ; his distin- 
guished privileges as a Jew, in which so many of his 
countrymen gloried, and even his eminent, gifts, labors, 
sufferings, and successes as a preacher of the Gospel, in 
which he came not a whit behind the very chiefest 



186 SERMONS. 

Apostles — a comparative disregard of all these — a cor- 
dial renunciation and abandonment of them all, as a 
foundation of hope, and a source of consolation ; and a 
clinging to the cross as the object most vital to his 
happiness, and dearest to his heart. So he avers else- 
where : " Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, 
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, 
and do count them but dross, that I may win Christ, 
and be found in him not having mine own righteousness 
which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of 
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that 
I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and 
the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable 
unto his death." And that Paul's brethren and fellow 
laborers were in this respect like minded, all their 
writings testify. Everywhere they are unanimous in 
holding forth the sufferings and death of Christ as of 
transcendent importance and excellence. Everywhere 
they speak of them with feelings of cordial esteem and 
grateful love, such as no other topic awakens. They 
had learned this from their Master himself. In the 
hour of his perplexity and sorrow, he said of his suffer- 
ings w r ith evident exultation, "Now is the judgment of 
this world ; now is the Prince of this world cast out. 
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
men unto me," and in that sacred ordinance which seals 
to believers the benefits of his death, he has appointed 
a public, solemn memorial and manifestation of his 
sufferings and death to be set forth and celebrated in 
his Church through successive ages, down to his second 
coming. 

My brethren, have w r e fellowship with Paul and his 
brethren and his Master, in the emotions with which 
we meditate upon this subject? Do we glory in the 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 187 

cross of Christ? Do we highly esteem it? Do we 
humbly and thankfully appropriate to ourselves the 
benefits and blessings that flow from it ? Do we openly 
avow our attachment to the cross of Christ? These are 
questions that touch the very essence of character as it 
appears in the sight of God ! The very foundations of 
hope, as they shall be put to the test in the great day 
of trial ! 

Let us inquire what reason Paul had to glory in the 
cross of Christ — what reason every believer has to be 
like minded. The sufferings and death of Christ, as 
they are set forth in the Scriptures of truth, have a two- 
fold aspect and bearing, as they relate to the character 
and moral government of God, and as they exert an 
influence upon the character, condition, and destiny of 
man. These are inseparably connected. The first 
stands related to the second, as principle and cause, to 
its consequence and effect. Both were blended in the 
song of angels at the Saviour's birth. " Glory to God 
in the highest ; on earth peace, and good will toward 
men." Both were present to the divine mind from 
eternity, and were included in the counsels of everlast- 
ing wisdom and love. In the execution of the purposes 
of God, both are progressively unfolded and manifested. 
They mutually act and re- act, and shed light, beauty, 
and glory upon each other. In the ultimate perfect 
consummation of both, the universe of holy beings shall 
rejoice All the obedient subjects of God's government 
shall feel themselves laid under new obligations to him 
who sitteth upon the throne ; and bound to each other 
by new ties of love and joy. While redeemed sinners, 
whose salvation was the special object of those suffer- 
ings, shall celebrate the praises of their deliverer, in 
peculiar and appropriate strains, they shall sing the 
new song. Lo, angels are represented as bending from 



188 SERMONS. 

their seats of bliss, to look into the mysteries of redeem- 
ing love, as they shine in the cross of Christ. Unto 
principalities and powers in heavenly places, is known 
by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God; and the 
angels round about the throne join with the ransomed 
from among men, in that celestial anthem, " Worthy is 
the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, 
and wisdom, and strength, and glory, and honor, and 
blessing." But it is specially to the influence of the 
sufferings of Christ upon the character and destiny of 
men, that I wish to direct your attention in what I have 
yet to say of the reasons why eyery believer should 
glory in the cross of Christ. 

In this view of the subject, I remark, 1st, we should 
glory in the cross of Christ, because it furnishes the only 
solid foundation of hope towards God. How may a 
sinner be just before God ? is a question which unaided 
reason can never answer to the satisfaction of an 
enlightened conscience ! If we have any correct views 
of the character and moral government of God ; any 
just discernment of the obligations and excellence of his 
law; any proper impressions of the evil nature and 
awful tendency of sin, we shall find it difficult, nay 
impossible, to reconcile the justice and holiness of God, 
and the rights of his government, with the pardon of 
sin, and the restoration of sinners to his favor. But 
every believer feels himself a sinner. He is conscious 
that in the sight of God his transgressions are more than 
he can number. He is conscious, too, that he can make 
no atonement for his own sins ; that he can offer no 
satisfaction to divine justice ; make no reparation for 
his violation of the law, unless it be by suffering in his 
own person the full weight of that penalty which the 
justice of God has denounced against sin. But that 
penalty is endless death. Finite sufferings can never 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 189 

exhaust it. If lie sinks under it, lie sinks for ever. In 
this situation he feels that Ik? is responsible to God his 
righteous Judge. He knows that he is fast filling up 
his allotted period of probation, and hastening to that 
deeisive interview with his Maker, which must fix his 
unchangeable destiny. lie looks on every side for 
some refuge from his conscious guilt and pollution; 
some solid foundation on which he may build the hope 
of pardon and salvation. But he looks in vain, until he 
beholds by faith the Lamb of God who taketh away the 
sin of the world. He hears the testimony of God con- 
cerning his Son, and that eternal life which is freely 
offered to sinners through him. He examines the cha- 
racter of Christ ; the transcendent dignity of his divine 
nature ; the spotless purity of his humanity ; the lessons 
of heavenly wisdom and love that fall from his lips, and 
the stupendous miracles by which his divine mission 
was confirmed. He fixes his attention upon the closing 
scenes of his earthly ministry, the agony of the garden, 
the ignominy and anguish of the cross, to which the 
adorable sufferer voluntarily submitted. There he 
beholds a sacrifice every way suited to make expiation 
for sin ; an adequate atonement to the violated law : 
an ample illustration of the justice and righteousness of 
God. " Him hath God set forth a propitiatory sacrifice, 
to declare his righteousness in the remission of sins, that 
God might be just and the justifier of every one that 
belie veth in him.'' He listens to the gospel call. 
" Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
saved." And to the testimony of God, that he is exalted 
to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and 
the remission of sins. He cordially obeys that call, 
embraces that offer, and relies upon that gracious assur- 
ance for pardon and salvation. And being justified by 
faith, he has peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 

9* 



190 SERMONS. 

Christ, and rejoices in hope of the glory of God. He 
sees the justice and mercy of Jehovah, sweetly blending 
and harmonizing in the pardon of sin, through the re- 
demption that is in Christ Jesus, and his conscience is 
relieved of the burden of guilt, his fears of wrath are 
dispelled, peace becomes an inmate of his bosom, and 
hope sheds her balmy influence over his troubled spirit. 

His confidence in the stability and safety of this foun- 
dation of hope towards God, is confirmed and established 
by his experience of the power of the very same truths 
which have spoken peace to his conscience, to subdue 
his sins, purify his heart, and teach him to walk in new- 
ness of life. 

This leads us to notice a second reason for the be- 
lievers glorying in the cross of Christ, his experience 
of its efficacy to make him holy. Man is made holy, 
not by any direct operation of Almighty power upon 
the essential constitution of his soul, adding to it any 
new faculty, or subverting or changing the laws by 
which it is governed. To suppose this, is to lose sight 
of the essential distinction between mind and matter, 
and to confound physical and moral power and agency. 
The spirit of God is the only sanctifier ; by his agency 
and power alone are sinners renewed in righteousness 
and true holiness. But the Spirit sanctifies men in a 
way adapted to our rational nature, and conformable to 
our moral agency. It is not against our will, but by 
making us willing ; not by any direct and immediate 
movement, subjecting or infringing our freedom, but 
by presenting truth to our minds, and pressing it upon 
our consciences and our hearts, so that in view of it we 
think and feel, resolve and act. Now the truths by 
which, pre-eminently, the Spirit thus operates, are the 
very truths which are illustrated in the sufferings and 
death of Christ. The views of sin and holiness, of 



THE CR088 OF CHRIST. 191 

God and the soul, and the realities of eternity, which 
there shine out more clearly and powerfully than in any 
other dispensation of God, are the great means by which 
the Spirit leads a sinner to repent, and believe, and obey 
the Gospel, and kindles in his icy heart love to God and 
love to man. As it is only in the cross of Christ that 
the awakening sinner finds any solid ground on which 
to build the hope of pardon and acceptance, so it is 
only here that he is relieved from the terrors of the 
Almighty which had fallen upon him, emancipated 
from the spirit of bondage under which he groaned, 
and enabled to look up to him with humble hope, and 
to present to him, not the extorted, reluctant service of 
a slave, but the free, ingenuous, affectionate homage and 
obedience of a child. And those very influences of the 
spirit, without which all means and all motives would 
be equally and utterly unavailing to restore the love of 
God to its rightful supremacy in the sinner's heart, are 
the fruit of the Bedeemer's sufferings and death. They 
date their origin from his atoning sacrifice, and flow to 
us from his cross as their perennial fountain and meri- 
torious cause ; so that in every sense the cross of Christ 
is the only source of holiness to the believer. There 
shine those glorious truths which the Spirit uses to sub- 
due his will and purify his affections, and call forth 
every devout, and holy, and heavenly emotion of his 
soul. There he obtains such views of God, and be- 
holds him standing in such an attitude in relation to 
himself as is fitted to give those truths a quickening 
and sanctifying operation upon his heart. And thence 
come to him those sweet and powerful energies of the 
Holy Ghost, which make him alive when dead in sin, 
transform him into the very likeness of Christ, and 
make him meet for eternal glory. And shall he not 
glory in that cross which thus emancipates him from 



192 SERMONS. 

the hateful bondage of sin, and brings him into the 
glorious liberty of the sons of God ? It seems to have 
been specially in view of the sanctifying power of the 
cross, that the apostle penned the text : " God forbid 
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I 
unto the world." 

In the third place, the believer glories in the cross of 
Christ, because it is the source of solid consolation and 
joy to his heart. That which lays a sure foundation of 
hope towards God ; that which subdues the reigning 
power of sin over the heart, and enthrones the love of 
God in the inner man, must be a source of consolation 
and joy ; the joy of pardoned sin, the consolation of 
a conscience at peace with God, the tranquil repose of a 
spirit sweetly bowed down in cheerful acquiescence 
with the will of God; the holy delight of free and 
filial access to God upon a mercy seat, as our reconciled 
God and Father ; the animating consciousness of grow- 
ing conformity to his blessed likeness; the cheering 
hope of standing, ere long, faultless in his presence with 
exceeding joy, and the assurance that all things, not 
excepting the most mysterious and trying dispensations 
of Providence, are working together to bring about 
this most desirable and blessed consummation. These 
are the immediate consequences of that peace with God, 
and that restoration to holiness, which the believer re- 
ceives through the sufferings and death of Christ. These 
are the fruits of immortality which grow upon the 
cross of Christ, once stained with his precious blood, 
now a tree of life to all his humble followers. And the 
believer knows that these are but the first fruits ; he 
partakes of them as the earnest of richer blessings that 
are prepared for him in those mansions which his once 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 193 

crucified, but now risen and exalted Redeemer, has 
gone to prepare for him. 

And shall he not glory in the cross? Shall he not 
highly esteem it ? Shall he not cling to it as the object 
most precious to his heart ? Shall he not avow his love 
for a suffering Saviour, and his confidence in him, in 
the face of a disobedient and gainsaying world? Yes, 
though it is to some a stumbling-block, and to others 
foolishness ; though ungodly men pass by it with cold 
neglect, or wag their heads in scorn, he cannot be 
ashamed of that which is the power of God unto his 
salvation ; he cannot but glory in that which is the solid 
foundation of his hope towards God, the living spring of 
holy emotion and holy action, the perennial fountain of 
pure and lasting joys. 



SERMON VII. 

LOVE TO AN UNSEEN SAVIOUR. 

" Whom having not seen, ye love." — 1 Peter i. 8. 

Love to an -unseen Saviour is the distinguishing charac- 
teristic of the true Christian. In their present imperfect 
state, the people of Christ differ in many points, but this 
one trait of character they all possess. Whatever may 
be their natural dispositions, their attainments in reli- 
gious knowledge, their opinions on less essential matters 
of doctrine, all love the Lord Jesus Christ. Without 
this, none may make any pretence to Christian charac- 
ter. This is the animating principle of holy obedience, 
the constraining motive to religious self-denial, the soul 
of the new creature, which governs and gives life and 
activity to the whole man. Unregenerate men may be 
amiable in their tempers, upright in their dealings, un- 
blameable in their external deportment, scrupulous in 
the discharge of many religious duties ; they may have 
an extensive and accurate knowledge of the doctrines 
and precepts of the bible ; be filled with self-compla- 
cency while viewing their own attainments, and indulge 
strong and confident expectations of heaven ; but they 
never truly love the Lord Jesus while they mistake his 
true character, while they look upon him only as a sa- 
viour from misery. Let his character and the nature of 
his salvation be fairly set before them, and he is in 
every instance a root out of dry ground. 

In the eyes of men, who look only at the outward 
appearance, there may often be little difference between 
the sincere Christian and the hypocrite, the formalist or 



LOVE TO AN UNSEEN SAVIOUR. 195 

the merely moral man ; but in the view of the searcher 
of hearts their different sentiments towards the Lord 
Jesus constitute a marked distinction — a distinction 
which gives a coloring to the whole character, and 
which shall be blazoned forth in that coming day when 
the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed ; a distinction 
which will fully justify, in the eyes of all impartial 
witnesses, that righteous sentence by which, the one 
shall be welcomed to the mansions of immortal bliss, and 
the other consigned to the prison of everlasting despair. 
Yes, beloved hearers, the sentiments of your hearts to- 
wards Christ are now decisive of your character in the 
sight of the omniscient God, and if he should at this 
moment summon you to stand at his tribunal, be as- 
sured they form the criterion which must fix unaltera- 
bly your destiny. 

Can there be proposed to any of us a more interest- 
ing, solemn, and momentous question than this — Do you 
love Christ ? If a question which is decisive of our cha- 
racter in the sight of our Maker and our Judge ; which 
determines whether we stand among the friends or the 
enemies of the Almighty God ; whether frail and dying 
as we are, we are now walking on the confines of hea- 
ven, or on the slippery shores of the burning lake; 
if such a question be interesting, solemn, and moment- 
ous, then is this deeply so. That we may be able to 
answer it without uncertainty, let us inquire, why the 
Christian loves an unseen Christ ? Men in general find 
no difficulty in loving those whom they see, and with 
whom they are every day conversant, provided they 
possess qualities congenial to their own dispositions, 
and calculated to attract their esteem and affection; 
but when they are required to love Christ, if they think 
of the subject at all, they perhaps often think if they 
had ever seen the Lord Jesus ; if they had been with 



196 SERMONS. 

liim while he was on earth ; had witnessed his un- 
wearied exertions to do good even to his most bitter 
enemies ; if they had heard the gracious words which 
fell from his lips ; if they had been spectators of that 
deeply affecting scene which closed his eventful life ; 
of his meekness, his patience, his love to men. his sub- 
mission to the will of heaven ; if they had listened to 
that dying prayer for those who nailed him to the cross : 
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do : n 
their hearts must have melted into tenderness and love ; 
their charmed affections must have hovered round an 
object so lovely, have fixed upon it with strong desire, 
and clung to i: w r ith enraptured and unalterable fond- 
ness. But when their affections are claimed for one 
whom they have never seen ; who lived and died cen- 
turies ago — though they must acknowledge he possesses 
many estimable qualities, yet their hearts are little 
moved ; and while the God of this world hath blinded 
their minds that they cannot see the brightest glories of 
his character, even those excellences which they can 
appreciate, seem rather like lovely but fantastic visions, 
than like sober and substantial realities. Not so the 
Christian ; he possesses that faith in the testimony of 
God ? s unerring word which is the evidence of things 
not seen ; he has felt his need of a Saviour ; by the 
light which the Holy Spirit has poured into his mind, 
he has seen the glorious all-sufficiency of Christ ; has 
seen that in him righteousness and peace have met to- 
gether ; that in him there is glory to God in the high- 
est, while on earth there is peace and good-will towards 
men ; and such is his inwrought and heartfelt conviction 
of these truths, that his love to an unseen Saviour is no 
less genuine and ardent, than if he saw and communed 
with him from day to day. Whatever others may 
think of Christ, in the eyes of the believer he is alto- 



LOVE TO AN UNSEEN SAVIOUR. 197 

getlier lovely. While others say, Who will show us 
any earthly good ? his language is, Lord, lift thou upon 
me the light of thy countenance. In his person, in his 
character, in his work, he is the chief among ten thou- 
sand ; he is precious in the e}'es of his people. With 
the Psalmist of old they can say, " Thou art fairer than 
the children of men ; grace is poured into thy lips, 
therefore God has blessed thee for ever." In his person, 
the glories of the divine and human natures are united. 
Whatever there is in divine perfection to awaken reve- 
rence, esteem, or desire ; whatever in unsullied human 
excellency to enkindle ardent love, to call forth the 
strongest expressions of delightful and endearing attach- 
ment, are united in the person of Christ. Transcendent 
majesty and gracious condescension, in their highest 
perfection, meet and blend harmoniously in him. He 
is the mighty God, the everlasting Father ; and yet the 
man of sorrows, the meek and lovely Saviour, whose 
heart melted with the tenderest compassion, from whose 
lips flowed the mild accents of heavenly mercy. His 
character is a bright constellation of excellences, where 
each shines with surpassing lustre. He is the image of 
the invisible God, the brightness of the Father's glory. 
In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; 
the riches of his grace are unsearchable, his love pass- 
eth knowledge ; it was stronger than death ; all power 
is his, both in heaven and on earth ; he is full of grace 
and truth; in him all the fulness of the Godhead 
dwells ; he is head over all things to the church ; what- 
ever can exalt, dignify, adorn, or endear the character, 
is found in him, without diminution or alloy. u Never," 
says an eminent writer, " never was a character at the 
same time so commanding and natural, so resplendent 
and pleasing, so amiable and venerable. There is in it 
a peculiar contrast between an awful greatness and dig- 



198 SERMONS. 

nity, and the most conciliating loveliness, tenderness, 
and compassion. Each separate virtue is made stronger 
by opposition and contrast ; and the union of so many 
virtues forms a brightness which fitly represents the 
glory of that God who dwells in light inaccessible. 
Such is the Lord Christ, altogether lovely ; such is he 
in the eyes of his people, therefore do they love him." 
But that affection which Christ's people bear to him, has 
special reference to him as Mediator of the covenant of 
grace. As a Eedeemer, he is very precious to them. 
The glories of redemption, which are almost entirely 
hid from an unbelieving world, shine brightest in the 
view of his people. They love him for the excellency 
of his mediatorial work. The excellency of this work 
consists in its sufficiency to supply the necessities of 
men, and its tendency to promote the glory of God. 

1st. Christ is dear to his people because he has made 
a full provision for the supply of their necessities ; for 
they see in him the fulness of pardoning mercy, and 
of sanctifying grace ; they have felt their need of par- 
don ; they have seen themselves by nature and by prac- 
tice sinners ; they have been weighed down by the bur- 
den of unpardoned guilt, and felt themselves ready to 
sink under the just, yet awful sentence of a violated 
law ; they have realized their inability to make any 
atonement for their sins, or to satisfy the demands of 
justice ; full of apprehension and dismay, they have, 
perhaps, attempted to allay their guilty fears by a round 
of religious duties, by their own obedience to the law 
to build a hiding-place for their affrighted souls, but the 
lightnings of Sinai have pursued and driven them from 
this and every other refuge of lies ; they have expe- 
rienced the inefficacy of their own efforts, the impotency 
of all created help. Guilty and helpless, bowed down 
by a weight of sin, they have seemed to themselves 



LOVE TO AN UNSEEN SAVIOUR. 199 

ready to sink in the abyss of despair. In :he moment 
of their utmost need, Christ has appeared for their re- 
lief. They have heard him saying, " Come unto me all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest." lie has calmed their apprehensions of wrath ; 
he has removed from their consciences the heavy bur- 
den of unpardoned guilt. Enlightened by the Holy 
Spirit, they have seen that Christ can be just, and yet 
the justifier of every one that believeth. Believing in 
him they have felt the curse remove ; a heavenly peace 
has been shed abroad in their hearts ; they have been 
enabled to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Christ 
has given them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for 
mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of 
heaviness. He has raised them from the horrible pit, 
and from the miry clay : he has set their feet upon a 
rock, and put a new song into their mouths, even salva- 
tion to our God. And shall they not love him? Yes, 
while they remember the wormwood and the gall, verily 
they love him for his pardoning mercy. Christ is pre- 
cious in the eyes of his people, because they see in him 
a fulness of sanctifying grace. Once they were the 
willing slaves of sin ; like other men, they inherited a 
depraved nature ; they wandered far from God. and 
loved the distance well ; they were utterly averse to 
holy employments and holy joys ; they had no percep- 
tion of, or delight in, moral excellence. But they have 
been created anew by the almighty energies of the Holy 
Spirit : they have been enlightened to behold the glory 
of God : to regard him as supremely amiable ; whose 
character is the perfection of every excellence, and who 
is the sole fountain of life and blessedness. Hence 
thev cannot but desire his favor, and pent after conform- 
ity to his image. Holiness is lovely in their eyes — 
they see its beauty. Sin is no longer regarded with 



200 8ERMONS. 

delight. Intrinsically base, odious, and abominable in 
the sight of God, it is the object of their abhorrence. 
They earnestly desire to be freed from its power and 
pollution. Those remains of sin which they perceive 
in themselves, cause them to groan, being burdened. 
Often they are ready, when iniquities prevail against 
them, to cry with, the apostle, " Oh ! wretched man that 
I am." 

Christ is a Eedeemer from the power of sin ; they 
have felt his power to break its yoke from their necks, 
to redeem their captive souls from its grievous thral- 
dom ; they are no longer under its dominion, and though 
thev are not entirely free from its influence, yet from 
time to time they experience the efficacy of his grace, 
to sanctify their hearts and fit them for the holy enjoy- 
ments and employments of Heaven. Though remaining 
sin requires that their bodies should moulder back to 
dust, and see corruption, yet confiding in the power 
and grace of Christ, they trust that from the ruins of 
its earthly prison, the soul, no longer chained down to 
objects of sense, every stain washed away in his precious 
blood, shall shake from its pinions the dust of earth and 
the dew of death, and rise exulting to the fellowship of 
kindred spirits in that mansion of rest, where no sin can 
enter, and all tears are wiped from every eye. And 
they look forward, full of joyous hope, to that glorious 
morning when at the call of their Eedeeming God even 
their sleeping dust shall wake, and bursting the bands 
of death, shall rise from the dark and silent tomb, no 
more to see corruption, but glowing with immortal life, 
resplendent with celestial beauty, arrayed in the shining 
vestments of immortality, join the glorified spirit, and 
with it abide for ever in the paradise of God. This 
glorious redemption from sin is the work of Christ alone. 
All that they have already felt, all that they hope for, 



LOVE TO AN UNSEEN 8AVIOUR. 201 

is from him. And shall they not love him? — not love 
their unseen Saviour ; when they know and feel that 
there is in him a fulness of sanctifying grace ! The joy, 
the ecstasy, the loud and lasting songs of the unnumbered 
millions who shall appear in his perfect likeness at the 
day of his second coming, will bear witness to their 
love. 

But 2nd, Christ is lovely in the eyes of his people, 
because his work as Mediator of the covenant of grace 
has gloriously displayed the divine perfections, and its 
tendency is greatly to promote the glory of God. The 
heart of the believer has been reconciled to God. He 
has been enlightened to some just perceptions of the 
transcendent glory of God, of the excellence and 
amiableness of the Divine character ; he feels how de- 
sirable it is that God alone should be exalted. The 
language of his heart is, " Be thou exalted, O God, 
above the Heavens, let thy glorj^ fill the earth." Christ, 
has magnified the divine law, by obedience to its pre- 
cepts ; by his submission to its penalty he has shown 
that it is holy, just, and good in its demands, and in its 
sanctions. In the hour of apprehension, anxiety, and 
anguish, the petition which calmed his troubled spirits 
and gave vent to the feelings of his trusting heart, was, 
14 Father, glorify thy name;" and it was answered. 

In the cross of Christ the Divine perfections shine 
with the brightest lustre ; there, attributes seemingly 
jarring and opposite meet and harmonize and illustrate 
each other. There, wisdom, holiness, justice, truth, 
goodness, and mercy unite, and mingling their beams 
pour forth a flood of celestial light, and uncreated glory. 
There, adoring angels learn new lessons of Jehovah's 
excellence, and raise louder their songs of praise. There, 
in distant ages the Heavenly hosts shall fix their ad- 
miring gaze, and find fresh cause of wonder, gratitude, 



202 SERMONS. 

and love. Thence, to all eternity shall accrue an in- 
creasing revenue of praise to the most High. Thus 
does Christ's work as Mediator promote the glory of 
God, an object most dear to the believer. And shall 
not believers love him? The angels, who need no re- 
demption, love, and shall not redeemed sinners — the 
purchase of his blood ? 

Such are some of the grounds of that love which 
Christians bear to him ; such some of his claims to their 
attachment. In his person he is the chief among ten 
thousand, altogether lovely. In his character fairer 
than the morning star, the brightness of the Father's 
glory, the very image of the invisible God. As Media- 
tor he has accomplished a work which no other could 
have performed ; a work by which objects are attained 
whose importance outstrips calculation, and defies com- 
parison ; objects unspeakably dear to the believer's 
heart, of no less moment than the redemption of an 
innumerable company of immortals from the thraldom 
of sin, and the horrors of eternal death, and the display 
of God's transcendent glory to an admiring universe. 
In accomplishing this, he trod the wine-press alone ; he 
bore alone the hiding of his Father's face, the desertion 
of his friends, the contempt and hatred of his enemies, 
the malice of infernal spirits ; and after agonizing in the 
garden, after expiring on the cross, burst the bars of 
death and ascended on high, there to reign until he has 
accomplished all the good pleasure of his goodness. 
And shall not his people love him ? Yerily, they do 
love him. Their love to him is sincere ; not a feigned 
or forced complacency towards a character in which 
they take little interest, but a hearty affection to one, 
who, though unseen, is very precious to them. It is 
supreme, triumphing over every opposing attachment, 
leading them to submit to sufferings, to make sacrifices, 



LOVE TO AN UNSEEN SAVIOUR. 203 

to persevere in the most laborious and self-denying 
exertions for his sake, to hate every earthly thing, yea, 
their own life when standing in opposition to him. It 
is most ardent love ; a flame which many waters cannot 
quench. It increases amid opposition, and consumes 
every interfering passion. It leads them to prize 
Christ's presence above all things else while here on 
earth, and to long that they may depart and be with 
him, which is far better ; yea, it has often caused his 
people to triumph amid the agonies of dissolving nature, 
in the prospect of meeting him whom their souls loved ; 
to rejoice when he has called them to his presence, 
though they mounted to Heaven from the gibbet, or 
their souls rode upward on the wings of the flames by 
which their bodies were consumed. It manifests itself 
by frequent and affectionate thoughts of him. While 
engaged in the common duties of life, their souls often 
go out to seek for him, and when at leisure they fix on 
him without constraint, as the needle turns continually 
to the pole. It manifests itself again by a delight in 
his word, and in all the ordinances in which he has 
promised to meet his people, and where he is wont to 
gladden their hearts by the manifestation of himself. 
Love to Christ manifests itself by love to his people. 
M He that loveth him that begat, loveth also him that is 
begotten of him." It shows itself by love to his cause ; 
by earnest and persevering exertions to promote his 
glory. Christ has established a kingdom in the earth. 
All who love him desire the prosperity of that king- 
dom, and strive to advance its interests. Above all, 
Christ's people manifest their love to him by doing his 
will, by a constant persevering, and cheerful obedience 
to his commands ! This is the surest test of genuine 
love to him; it is the one which he himself has set. 
14 If ye love me keep my commandments." " Then are 



204 



SERMONS. 



ye my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." All 
who love the Lord Jesus Christ strive sincerely to keep 
all his commandments. Their obedience is not indeed 
perfect, but its imperfection is matter of grief and sorrow 
to them ; they are not satisfied with present attainments ; 
they labor to render their obedience more perfect; 
they desire to be conformed to the image of Christ ; and 
they are resolved by his grace never to cease struggling 
with remaining imperfection, until, being made like 
him, they see him as he is. 

And now, beloved hearers, do you love an unseen 
Saviour ? By nature your affections are prone to fix 
on the objects of sense ; have they been taken off them, 
and fixed on the uncreated excellences of Christ, who 
is invisible ? Do you love him because he is lovely in 
himself, and in his person and character altogether 
deserving your affections ? Because he is an Almighty 
Bedeemer, able to deliver your souls from the power 
of sin and death ? Do you love him because you have 
experienced his pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace ? 
— Because you rely on his grace alone, to set you free 
from the condemning sentence which you feel is just, 
and from the power of sin, which is your greatest bur- 
den, and most odious to you ? Does he appear lovely 
to you because he is an holy Saviour, who has magnified 
God's law, and gloriously illustrated the Divine perfec- 
tions ? Does your love manifest itself by frequent and 
affectionate thoughts of him? Is he the dear object 
around whom your thoughts hover, and on whom they 
are ever ready to fix ? Do you love communion with 
him ? Do you seek it in all the ways of his appoint- 
ment? When you enter his courts do you desire to 
see the King in his glory ? Do you love to meet him 
in your closets ? Do you love his word ? — his people ? 
Is his image dear to you whenever you behold it? 



LOVE TO AN UNSEEN SAVIOUR. 205 

Do you love his cause ? Do you strive to promote his 
glory in the salvation of your fellow men ? Are you 
obedient to his commands? Is your obedience uni- 
versal? — Is it constant? — Is it cheerful? Do you 
delight to do his will ? Are you ready, if he require it, 
to forsake all, take up your cross, and follow him ? Do 
you mourn that jow. obey him no better ? Is it your most 
earnest desire to be freed from all remaining sin, and 
serve Christ without imperfection? Then do you 
indeed love him, and the Father himself loveth you 
because ye have loved him, and have believed that he 
came out from God. Then are you of his people, his 
sheep, to whom he will give eternal life, and they shall 
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his 
hand. Come then to his table. For you he gave him- 
self. Be exhorted, then, to go on your way rejoicing. 
Though now you see him not, yet believing, even now 
you may rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. 
That unseen Saviour whom you love will supply all 
your need, and he will not always be hidden from your 
sight. The day is near, when he will call you to his 
presence. He has gone from your view to prepare a 
place for you, and he will come ere long to take you to 
himself, that where he is you may be also. There, you 
shall see his face without a veil ; there, you shall be 
like him, for you shall see him as he is. Nothing there 
shall interrupt your intimate communion with him. 
While you contemplate his uncreated beauty, while 
your enraptured souls behold new glories open to your 
view in his person, character, and work, your love 
shall burn with a purer and a brighter flame, and your 
joy rise to ecstacy unspeakable, while you unite with 
the glorious host of the redeemed in ascribing to the 
Lamb that was slain, power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength, and glory, and honor, and blessing. But 

10 



206 mm 

are there not some that now hear me, who do not love 
an unseen Saviour? whose affections are wholly en- 
grossed by visible objects? who declare this day by 
their conduct that they take no delight in him who is 
invisible? Ah, unhappy fellow sinners ! he will not 
always be an unseen Christ. Behold, he cometh in 
clouds, and every eye shall see him ! You, too, must 
look upon him. That very Saviour whom you now 
neglect is the appointed Judge of quick and dead. At 
his bar you must stand ; from his lips you must hear 
that sentence which will fix your destiny, which, if you 
do not love him, will consign you to the chambers of 
eternal death. Hear ye the language of God's word: 
11 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him 
be Anathema Maranatha.'' If any man, no matter 
how amiable in disposition, no matter how moral his 
deportment, no matter what his gifts and professions of 
piety, if any man love not him — it is not said if any 
man openly oppose Christ's cause, persecute his follow- 
ers, ridicule his religion, or blaspheme his name — if any 
do not cordially and supremely love the Lord Jesus 
(ah, how many who are well reported among men, how- 
many of you does it include), let him be accursed, 
set apart as a vessel of wrath, singled out as a monu- 
ment of vengeance, devoted to an awful and eternal 
destruction when the Lord shall come. In that great 
day when Christ shall sit upon the throne of his glory, 
and all the unnumbered millions of Adam's race are 
gathered before him, when the retributions of eternity 
begin to take effect, when the righteous are welcomed 
to the kingdom prepared for them, and the wicked are 
cast into outer darkness. Oh ! who can bear a curse like 
this ; who can dwell with devouring fire ; who can lie 
down with everlasting burnings. Dear fellow sinners, 
as God is true this must be the doom of everv one who 



LOVE TO AN UNSEEN SAVIOUR. 207 

docs not sincerely love Christ. If that awful day should 
now break upon an astonished world ; if the archangel's 
trumpet should now awake the sleeping dead ; if the 
bursting heavens should now reveal the Son of God in 
flaming fire ; this curse must light on every one of us 
who does not love Christ. Ah ! how heart-rending, 
while sinking under its intolerable weight, to remember 
offers of mercy neglected, and overtures of grace des- 
pised. Now Christ is waiting to be reconciled to his 
enemies ; now he knocks at your hearts soliciting ad- 
mittance. Oh ! be wise ; kiss the Son lest he be angry. 



SERMON VIII. 
THE LIKENESS OF GOD. 

■ I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." — Psalm xvii. 15. 

The children of God are not distinguished by the pos- 
session of a large share of the good things of this life. 
A variety of causes conspires to prevent them from 
amassing the wealth, acquiring the honors, or enjoying 
the pleasures which earth affords. Frequently a sove- 
reign God chooses the poor of this world to make them 
rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom prepared for 
them that love him. Frequently in his wise and gra- 
cious providence he frustrates their attempts to pro- 
cure an abundance of earthly good, or strips them of 
what they already possess, that he may lead them to 
seek delight in himself alone, or preserve them from 
the temptation incident to fulness. Independently of 
these considerations, the good man's conscience will not 
permit him to follow many of those paths which lead 
most directly to present emolument; and he whose 
treasure is in heaven, cannot be expected to pursue it 
with the same ardor as those whose hope and portion 
lie below. But while the lot of the pious is not marked 
by a profusion of temporal good, it contains a fall pro- 
portion of those sufferings which render life a vale of 
tears. They were long since told by one who wrote 
under the guidance of the Spirit of unerring truth, "If ye 
endure not chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then 
are ye not sons ; for whom the Lord loveth he chasten- 
eth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Their 



THE LIKENESS OF GOD. 209 

Heavenly Father often corrects them for their offences, 
while he permits others to indulge in sin without re- 
straint, and in undisturbed security to ripen for the day 
of righteous retribution. Their conscientious opposi- 
tion to the principles and practice of a degenerate 
world often subjects them to insult and injury. 

While strangers and pilgrims here, the dissimilarity 
between their conduct and that of those around them, 
frequently exposes them to hatred, so that when world- 
ly policy bears sway, waters of a fall cup are often 
wrung out to the people of God. Yet, in the midst of 
all this privation and suffering, they may rejoice ever- 
more, for there is an angel that goes with them, and 
strews roses of delight in this thorny path. They have 
a hope full of immortality, which may well sweeten the 
cup of affliction, dry the tear of suffering, and cheer the 
sinking soul in the hour of deepest despondency. 

When the shades of sorrow and distress spread 
around them the thickest gloom, they have only to 
raise the eye of faith, and they bohold the near and 
certain prospect of a portion which will fully satisfy 
the soul, a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 
Thus did the pious psalmist. David seems to have 
written this psalm in a time of great distress from the 
malice of his enemies ; probably when persecuted by 
Saul. He earnestly prays for Divine protection ; repre- 
sents in strong language the cruelty of his enemies ; 
recognizes the overruling power of Grod in those suffer- 
ings which were inflicted upon him by the hands of 
men ; and, in a strain of despondency, speaks of the 
present prosperity of the wdcked. At the close of the 
psalm he seems to have felt that his prayer was heard ; 
the clouds that had gathered around him disperse ; his 
faith acquires new vigor ; he obtains a glimpse of that 
bright and glorious inheritance which is reserved for 



210 SERMONS. 

all who love God ; and lie exclaims in the language of 
holy triumph, u As for me, I shall behold thy face in 
righteousness ; I shall be satisfied when I awake with 
thy likeness." 

In discussing this subject, it is designed to explain 
the nature of that likeness to God of which David ex- 
presses his confident expectation, and which shall be 
the sure reward of all who truly love God ; and then 
briefly to notice the time when they shall enter upon 
the enjoyment of this portion ; when they awake ; and 
the effect it will have upon them, — u They shall be 
satisfied." 

I. What is the nature of that likeness to God 
spoken of in the text ? To this we answer, it is a spirit- 
ual likeness, an enstamping the Divine image upon the 
soul, a moulding the soul into the Divine similitude. It 
cannot be anything corporeal. God is a Spirit, and a ma- 
terial body cannot resemble spirit. It is true, indeed, 
our Saviour has ascended into heaven with a body like 
our own, only unspeakably more glorious, shining with 
such amazing splendor that a sight of it caused the 
beloved apostle to fall at his feet as dead ; and we know, 
if we believe in him, that he will ere long change these 
vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his glorious 
body. This w*ill make us like the human nature of our 
beloved Lord; but this is not the meaning of our text. 
The likeness of which the psalmist speaks is a conform- 
ity of soul to God. In order to this, we must undergo 
a great change ; for, alas ! light and darkness are not 
more opposite than a holy God and a depraved man. 
Yet we are not to imagine it to be a change in essence, 
so that it would be a human soul no longer; neither 
are we to regard it as implying any power or faculties 
we do not at present in any degree $>ossess. It may be, 
indeed, there are in our souls germs of powers which 



THE LIK4NKSS OF god. 211 

lie dormant in this infant stage of onr existence, but 
which will shoot forth and bear fruits of holiness and 
blessedness in the regions of eternal day, but on this 
subject the Scriptures are silent, and by our own re- 
searches we can never arrive at certainty. That like- 
ness to God of which the righteous shall partake, will 
consist in a similarity between the qualities of their 
souls and the attributes of the Divine nature. In this 
respect they shall be like God. But there are some of 
the Divine attributes which are incommunicable,because 
inconsistent with the idea of a created nature. Such 
are independence, immensity, absolute immutability and 
eternity ; these, from their very nature, cannot be given 
to any creature. In respect to these, therefore, the 
righteous cannot be like God. But their likeness to 
God will consist in knowledge, holiness and blessed- 
ness. 

1st. It will consist in knowledge. This we are taught 
in other passages of the sacred Scriptures. Thus Chris- 
tians are exhorted to put on the new man, which is re- 
newed in knowledge after the image of him that created 
him. The apostle writes of himself, " Now I know in 
part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." 
Our knowledge must ever be derived, and dependent, 
and in this respect unlike that of God, which is unde- 
rived and independent. God knoweth all things, not 
from the things themselves or because they exist, but 
from his own essence : something as a wise builder 
knows the structure, which he is about to erect, from the 
image of it in his own mind, though the materials are 
not yet provided or put together; consequently, his 
knowledge is absolutely independent. It was the same 
from eternity, before all creatures began to exist, and it 
will continue the same to eternity, while created sys- 
tems rise into being, roll round their appointed course, 



212 SERMONS. 

and are dissolved. Nor can creatures ever become om- 
niscient. It is only that incomprehensible and glorious 
Being who made and governs all things, whose infinite 
mind, at one immense survey, beholds all things, certain 
and contingent, actual and possible, past, present, and 
future. Yet the righteous shall resemble God in the 
certainty of their knowledge. At present our know- 
ledge of the most interesting subject is confined by 
very narrow limits, and even within those limits there 
is much uncertainty and error. Our reason, at best, is 
but a glimmering light, is obscured by sin, and often 
almost extinguished by prejudice and passion. God 
hath graciously been pleased, by a plain revelation of 
his will, to give us absolute certainty with respect to 
those great truths on which our eternal well-being es- 
sentially depends. This light from heaven shines on 
the path of life, but that is a narrow way, and doubts 
and darkness rest on all beyond. The pleasure we 
might derive from the discovery of truth is greatly 
lessened by the "uncertainty in which it is involved. But 
God knows with infallible certainty ; lie is not liable to 
be mistaken or deceived. If we are his people, when 
we awake in his likeness we shall know even as we are 
known. In thy light, oh ! God, shall we see light. Mis- 
take and error arise from sin, and they shall cease when 
Christ's people are freed from the last mark of the apos- 
tacy, and made gloriously perfect with him. No sha- 
dow of uncertainty shall rest upon those truths which 
are objects of contemplation to the blessed ; no "unwel- 
come doubts intrude to mar their joys. 

Again, the knowledge of glorified saints shall resem- 
ble the Divine knowledge in its clearness and distinct- 
ness. Now we see as through a glass darkly. Even 
of that comparatively small portion of truth with which 
we are acquained, our views are very indistinct. En- 



THE LIKENESS OF GOD. 213 

veloped in the mists of sense, and covered with the 
darkness of sin, we see objects very superficially, and 
often they do not appear to us as they really are. 
When we survey the works of God, how much is there 
of wisdom and goodness which we cannot see ! how 
many creatures seem to us useless ! how many even 
hurtful ! In the Providence of God, how much is to 
us mysterious and inscrutable! How often are clouds 
and darkness around about the Almighty, and his ways 
in the great deep ! When we look into his word, how 
much which we cannot explain or understand ; how 
much of which we cannot see the consistency or pro- 
priety. On every side there is much which, to the eye 
of feeble reason, seems like darkness, deformit} r , confu- 
sion, and discord. But ah! my friends, the imperfection 
is in ourselves. God is light, and in him is no darkness 
at all. In his sight all things are full of light and beau- 
ty, order and harmony. No cloud obscures the vision 
of the Almighty, no number or variety of objects dis- 
tract his attention ; nothing so hidden or mysterious 
that it is not naked and open to him. He knows that 
all things have the proper nature, perform the proper 
offices, and promote the proper ends. That under his 
most wise and holy guidance all shall eventually con- 
spire to bring about the greatest good. Such, also in 
kind, shall be the knowledge of the blessed, when they 
shall see, not through a glass darkly, but face to face. 
When the soul shall be elevated above the mists of 
sense, and the darkness of sin shall have fled away. 
Oh ! w r hen the mind shall be freed from all that now 
obscures it, what unthought of glories shall rise to view 
in all the works and ways of God. What order and 
beauty shall shine in all that now appears most confused 
and inexplicable ! 

Again : though creatures can never become omni- 
10* 



214 SERMONS. 

scient, yet the knowledge of glorified saints, compared 
with what they now possess, may very properly be said 
to resemble the Divine knowledge in extent. Several 
causes will contribute to the enlargement of the sphere 
of knowledge to those happy spirits who worship in the 
temple above. Doubtless, the powers of the soul will 
greatly expand. This life is but the morning of our 
days, the threshold of our existence. All our powers 
are but partially unfolded in this infant stage. We are 
hardly able to be familiar with anything but the fleet- 
ing visions of this shadowy world. The immense mag- 
nitude, the awful importance of invisible realities, were 
they fully seen, would no doubt crush our infant powers, 
and they are wisely veiled from our view. But when 
we go to behold them in the clear light of eternity, our 
minds must be greatly strengthened or we must be over- 
powered by their dazzling splendor. All obstruction 
to the acquisition of knowledge will be removed ; the 
soul will be no longer impeded and clogged by a gross 
material body. When sin shall be totally eradicated, 
passion and prejudice, which spring from it, must die. 
Then the spirits of the blessed will not, as at present, 
be pent up in a dark^obscure, and narrow corner of the 
universe, but dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem, enjo}^ 
every advantage for the attainment of knowledge. Oh ! 
with what holy joy will they drink in the truth at the 
pure eternal fountain where it flows. When freed from 
error, and confusion, and sin, and standing on the pin- 
nacle of creation, who can tell what new discoveries of 
the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator will 
pour in upon the enlarged soul as it looks abroad over 
the immensity of the works of God ! 

When the glorious consummation to which they tend 
shall shed new light upon the dealings of Providence to 
the church and to individuals, what displays of wisdom 



THE LIKENESS OF GOD. 215 

and tenderness, before unknown, shall animate the 
grateful praises of the blessed, as, from the heights of 
the heavenly Zion, they review the way in which, they 
have been led. When the thunders of the judgment 
day shall have announced the catastrophe of the great 
drama now acting on the theatre of this life ; when the 
great work of redeeming sinners shall have been com- 
pleted, and the ransomed of the Lord have entered 
Zion with songs and everlasting joy ; when the nations 
of the saved shall walk in the light of the Lamb; what 
unutterable glories will blaze in every part of the stu- 
pendous plan of redeeming love ! But your time com- 
pels us to dismiss this theme, delightful as it is. We 
remark, 

2d. The future likeness of the saints to God will con- 
sist in hoUness. This was a part of that likeness to God 
in which, man was first created ; for God made man up- 
right ; but they have sought out many inventions. The 
moral image of God is defaced and destroyed in apos- 
tate man. But in Christ Jesus this glory of our nature 
is restored. They that are Christ's, have put on the new , 
man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and 
true holiness. Yet this restoration is only partial in the 
present life; for, saith the apostle John: "If we say 
that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth, 
is not in us." But the whole body of believers shall, 
ere long, be made perfect in holiness, for the Lord Jesus 
will present them to himself a glorious church, not hav- 
ing spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. The Eternal 
God alone is essentially, independently, and necessarily 
holy. He is holiness itself, and all that is excellent 
among creatures is derived from him, and is but a faint 
reflection of his glorious holiness. He is infinitely re- 
moved from all sin. All moral evil is the object of his 
perfect abhorrence. He commands his people — " Be ye 



216 SERMONS. 

holy, for I am holy." He has given us a holy law as a 
rule of our conduct, which, if it were perfectly obeyed, 
would banish all sin, and make this guilty, wretched 
world a habitation of holiness and peace. But alas! 
even the best of men, while in the body, are not per- 
fectly freed from the power of in-dwelling sin. In no 
case do they perfectly obey the law. Often they feel 
their hearts going out after things forbidden ; often 
they feel a law in their members warring against the 
law of their mind, and bringing them into subjection 
to the law of sin in their members. Much sin cleaves 
to their best duties. How seldom do they rise on the 
wings of faith to devout and holy contemplation of 
eternal things ! How weak their faith, how wavering 
their hope ! How cold their love ! How imperfect 
their devotional exercises ! This life is a constant war- 
fare, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit 
against the flesh. But the stroke of death, which con- 
signs their bodies to the tomb, destroys the last of their 
spiritual foes. When the struggling soul bursts the 
bars of its prison, it leaves behind it all remaining im- 
perfection ; it wings its upward flight to the regions of 
perfect holiness. There, inbred corruption is unknown ; 
there, temptation no longer annoys ; nothing unholy 
or unclean disturbs the purity of the heavenly city, 
and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that 
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or 
maketh a lie. 

In the immediate presence of the blessed God, faith 
and hope shall attain perfection ; for the one shall be 
changed into sight, and the other swallowed* up in en- 
joyment. Sanctified knowledge shall supply abundant 
fuel to holy love, and it shall burn with a pure light 
and steady flame. There all, beholding with open face 
the glory of the Lord, shall be changed into the same 



THE LIKENESS OF GOD. 21*7 

image from glory to glory. The glowing image of their 
Saviour, which shall shine in all the redeemed, shall 
prove them to be, indeed, members of his body, and 
proclaim the glory of that matchless grace which was 
able to exalt sinners to such dignity, and thus to adorn 
them with the beauties of holiness. We remark, 

3d. The righteous shall be like God in blessedness. 
This necessarily results from the two last ; for an 
enlarged view of the character and works of God, ac- 
companied with perfect love to him, cannot but make 
the creature perfectly happy ; accordingly the psalmist 
says : " In thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right 
hand are pleasures for evermore. " 

Another point of resemblance between the future 
blessedness of the saints and that of God is in its dura- 
tion ; it will be eternal. Not, indeed, in the same 
manner ; his blessedness is without beginning as well 
as without end. Theirs begins, but it will never end. 
It is dependent, too ; but it depends upon the faithful 
promise of an unchanging God ; and while his throne 
endures, his promise cannot fail. Such is the portion 
of the saints, such that likeness to God, the greatest and 
best of beings, which will hereafter exalt, adorn, and 
bless the poorest and the weakest of those who shall, 
through much tribulation, inherit the promise. But, 
though aided by the light of revelation, we can rudely 
trace the faint outlines of the beauteous picture, what 
human, what angelic pencil can fill them up, can give 
to each part the due proportions, and to all the proper 
coloring ! The language of mortals is too feeble, the 
mind of man too weak, to conceive the joys which will 
fill the bosoms of the redeemed, when their knowledge 
of the most transporting truths shall be certain, distinct, 
and vastly enlarged, when their souls, unassailed by 
temptation, unstained by sin, shall shine in perfect 



218 SERMONS. 

holiness and be filled with pure and unmixed delight, 
and the immutable God shall affix the seal of eternity 
to their happy state. Oh ! it will be a gift worthy of 
him who spared not his only begotten Son, but delivered 
him up to shame, pain, and death. Glorious Eedeemer ! 
it will be a worthy reward of thy bloody agony, of thy 
prevalent intercession. 

II. And now, beloved hearers, it seems almost needless 
to notice, under our second general head, the feelings 
of the blessed, when they enter upon this portion. 
Surely, they will feel that all their most enlarged desires 
are filled. Surely, the pious psalmist was not mistaken 
when he said, " I shall be satisfied ivhen I aivake with thy 
likeness" The desires of every human soul are large, 
too large for earth to fill ; yet surely he who made the 
soul can satisfy its most boundless wishes. 

The psalmist was a man of no common stamp; his 
natural powers were of no ordinary magnitude, and 
they had been enlarged by education and experience, 
and strengthened by frequent meditation on spiritual 
truth, and devout contemplation of eternal things ; yet 
guided by the spirit of truth, he exclaims : A I shall be 
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." 

Oh, yes, my brethren, the likeness of God which it 
shall bear, will satisfy the pious soul, will fill up its 
capacities and wishes. And though its powers expand 
and expand to eternity, they will never swell beyond 
the measure of its joys. But when shall they enter 
upon this portion ? When I awake, says the psalmist. 
Comparing the life and activity which shall animate the 
spirits of the blessed when they have shaken off this 
mortal coil, with their present dull and sluggish frame, 
or their present indistinct and transient views of the 
truth with the vivid and lasting impressions it will 
make upon them when seen in the light of eternity, 



THE LIKENKSS OF GOD. 219 

this life may well be called a sleep. And death, their 
Father's messenger, sent to awake them in the morning 
of their joys, or the expression, " when I awake;' may 
refer more immediately to that bright morning when 
he who is the resurrection and the life, shall pour the 
light of heaven upon the darkness of the sepulchre ; 
when, amid the convulsions of dissolving worlds, and 
the death groans of expiring nature, he shall call from 
the grave the sleeping dust of all his saints : when this 
corruption, shall put on incorruption and this mortal 
shall put on immortality, and death be swallowed up in 
victory ; when their vile bodies, made like to the 
Saviour's, glorious and nnited to their glorified spirits, 
and they shall go to be for ever with the Lord. 

From a review of this subject, let afflicted Christians 
learn patience and find consolation. David seems to 
have penned this psalm under great affliction ; he was 
ready to sink in despondency while the waves of sorrow 
went over him, but he thought of the portion of the 
righteous, and his soul rose above the deep waters ; he 
stood upon a rock where the angry billows could not 
reach. 

The apostle Paul found consolation in the same 
truth : " For I judge that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us." 

Nothing is better suited to administer comfort to the 
afflicted follower of Christ than steadfast and believing 
contemplation of those joys which await them. 

Shall he murmur or repine, or indulge immoderate 
sorrow at the chastenings of his Heavenly Father, when 
they are designed to work out the peaceable fruits of 
righteousness, and to fit him for his crown ; shall he 
faint under his present light afflictions which are but 
for a moment, but work out for him a far more exceed- 



220 SERMONS. 

ing and eternal weight of glory. Lift up thy head, oh, 
weeping Christian ! by faith behold thy bright inherit- 
ance in the skies, and let a song of praise to him, in 
whose likeness thou shalt awake, succeed thy tears ! 

Again, let Christians learn from this subject to rise 
above the fears of death. Is it so, that your souls will 
bear the Divine likeness when they awake from this 
dream of life ? Is it so, that the hour of death will be 
the beginning of all that deserves the name of life ? — the 
morning of a cloudless, an eternal day, in which 
knowledge, and holiness, and blessedness shall be made 
perfect ? And can you fear to die ? By virtue of your 
union to Christ all things are yours. Even death is 
yours ; it will crown you with glory everlasting. 
Christless sinners may fear death. No wonder they 
should shudder at his approach. He is to them indeed 
the king of terrors ; he cuts them off from all that is 
dear to them, defeats their plans, destroys their comforts, 
blasts their hopes, drives their trembling spirits to the 
bar of an angry Judge, shuts up their bodies in the 
grave, and opens to their souls the gates of the prison 
of the damned. But to believers he is a vanquished 
foe. He has lost his sting: " For the sting of death is 
sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to 
God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." Oh, Christians! be afraid to sin; be afraid 
to offend your covenant God ; be afraid to dishonor 
your Saviour whose name you bear. But do not be 
afraid to die. Eather as servants, who love their mas- 
ter, be engaged in his service ; be prepared to meet him, 
and look for and hasten to the coming of your Lord. 

Finally, let me exhort all who hear me, to seek the 
portion of them that fear God. Is it not a glorious 
portion? Is it not worth seeking ? Oh, make it yours ; 
it is offered to you. Repent and be converted, and your 



THE LIKENESS OF CJOI). 221 

sins shall be blotted out. Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and you shall be saved. Will you refuse to seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness ? -Will 
you still spend money for that which is not bread, and 
your labor for that which satisfieth not? There is 
another portion for the impenitent. Shall I name the 
dread alternative which awaits those who fall short of an 
inheritance among them that are sanctified? Shall I 
speak of the blackness of darkness for ever ? Oh ! be 
entreated, by all that is solemn and awful in eternity, 
by all that is desirable in the joys of Heaven, by all 
that is fearful in the agonies o^ hell ; be entreated to 
seek the Lord. May God add his blessing. Amen. 



SERMON IX. 

THE END OF ALL THINGS AT HAND. 

"The end of all things is at hand ; be ye therefore sober, and watch 
unto prayer." — 1 Peter iv. 7. 

It is doubtful whether, in this passage, the apostle refers 
to the civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Jewish 
people, their priesthood, their temple service, their 
sacrifices, and the various rites and ceremonies of their 
law, which at the time of writing, were on the verge of 
dissolution, or whether in the expression, " the end of 
all things is at hand," he calls attention to the brevity 
and uncertainty of human life, the rapid flight of time, 
and the near approach of that solemn hour, when each 
of them must pass into the unseen world, appear at the 
bar of Omniscient truth and holiness, and enter upon the 
righteous retributions of eternity. As, however, this 
letter is addressed to believers in Pontus and Galatia, 
who, we may suppose, felt no special interest in the fate of 
Jerusalem, the latter interpretation of the text appears 
probable. In this sense, it is as applicable to us as to 
them ; and it suggests instruction appropriate to the 
present occasion, when the termination of another year 
forcibly reminds us of the approaching close of all things 
earthly. 

" The end of all things is at hand." This is literally 
true of all those objects which we see, or which are 
obvious to any of our senses. They are temporal ; they 
have had a beginning, they shall have an end. The 
time was when they did not exist. The time is coming 
when they shall exist no longer. Travel back in 



TOT END OF ALL THINGS AT HAND. 223 

imagination and you come to that point in a past eter- 
nity, when the material universe sprang into being at 
the word of Omnipotence, when before there had been 
one vast unpeopled solitude, and the eternal God had 
reigned alone, self-sufficient and all sufficient. Travel 
forward in imagination, and you arrive at a period, 
when the same word that called them into existence, 
shall dissolve them into their original elements, or bid 
them cease to be. When that sun, which has beheld 
unchanged the rise and fall of so many empires, and 
shone with undiminished lustre on the graves of so 
many generations, shall emit its last expiring raj 7 , and 
yonder stars that have twinkled from age to age shall 
be extinguished, and those heavens shall be rolled 
together as a scroll and pass away, and this earth and 
all that is therein, shall be burned up. The material 
universe, in all its beauty and grandeur, forms but a 
single link in the plans and purposes of that mysterious 
and adorable Being who is without beginning of days 
or end of time ; and its whole duration is but a single 
step in the march of that government which is from 
everlasting to everlasting ; and however remote the 
period may now seem, when the mighty angel coming 
down from heaven and standing on the sea and on the 
land, shall lift up his hand and swear by him who 
liveth for ever and ever that time shall be no longer; 
however numerous the generations of dying men that 
shall arise in succession and fill up their allotted term 
of probation, and pass on to their last account ere that- 
period arrives ; however dim and distant the solemnities 
of nature's dissolution may appear as you now look 
forward to them through the tract of coming ages, you 
shall see and feel them present, and when the notes of 
the last trump have ceased, and the last convulsive 
throes of a dying world are hushed, your souls, possess- 



224 SERMONS. 

ing the very same consciousness of existence, the very 
same powers of thought and action, the very same 
capacities of joy and sorrow they now possess, shall look 
back upon the whole course of time from the creation 
to the judgment day, and feel that it bears a less pro- 
portion to that boundless eternity which there lies 
stretched out before you, than the year that is just 
closing to all that comes between it and the end of time. 
What a view does this give of the value of your souls ! 
What energy does it impart to that question of the Son 
of God : " What shall it profit a man if he gain the 
whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man 
give in exchange for his soul ?" What wisdom does it 
accord to the choice of those who seek the salvation of 
their souls as the one thing needful. Of what guilt and 
folly does it convict you, who in spite of all the admo- 
nitions of the word of God and all the strivings of his 
spirit have persisted to this hour, in bartering your 
souls for what is offered you by a deceitful world and 
its lying pleasures that pall upon the sense, or 
wealth that will soon be wrested from your dying grasp, 
or honors, that if they fade not while you wear them, 
must soon deck your grave. Oh ! immortal man, re- 
member that thy soul must survive the wreck of matter 
and the crash of worlds; must feel itself just entering 
on its endless career of joy or sorrow, when time shall 
be no more, and earth andheaven have passed away. 
Remember the Eternal God hath made thee to be a 
monument of his justice, or his mercy, while his throne 
endures. 

In the second place, the end of all things earthly is 
at hand, so far as ice are concerned with them, or take 
an interest in them, because we shall soon leave them 
all behind. To each of us, brethren, the time is short. 
Our days are but an hand's breadth, and w r e spend them 



THE END OF ALL THINGS AT HAND. 225 

as a tale that is told, as a dream when one awaketh. 
Like the swift ships they pass away ; like the eagle 
hasting to his prey, leaving no trace behind. And 
when these bodies go down naked to the dust, in that 
very day every earthly thought perishes ; that day will 
be to us the end of all things earthly. For there is no 
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the 
grave. But what is this to the many generations of 
men over whom time has passed in her rapid flight, 
bearing their spirits to the bar of God, and leaving 
their bodies in silence, darkness, and forgetfulness be- 
hind ! What is this to thirty millions of our fellow 
men (or to the scores and hundreds from among our- 
selves), whom death has conducted to their unseen 
abodes, and God has fixed in their unalterable desti- 
nies, during the year that is just closed. Their pains 
and pleasures, their pursuits and attainments, their dis- 
appointments and successes, their honors, riches, joys, 
are at an end. Nothing earthly is left to them but the 
characters here formed, and the stores of mercy or of 
wrath here treasured up. They began the year with 
hopes as sanguine, prospects as bright, plans as discreet, 
and faculties as efficient as our own. But the places 
that once knew them, know them now no more. Strang- 
ers have entered into their possessions, and tread on 
their unconscious dust. And what are we ? and what 
our life ? A vapor appearing for a little, then vanish- 
ing away. The sun of prosperity may tinge it with 
gold, or paint upon it the colors of the rainbow. But 
lo ! while men gaze it disappears. For us the graves 
are ready ; the end of all things is at hand ; and shall 
we long, and plan, and toil, only for this brief, uncer- 
tain life ? Shall we devote ourselves to pursuits we 
must so soon abandon ? Shall we heap up treasures in 
this world as if it were our eternal home, when we 



226 SERMONS. 

know not at what moment we shall be summoned to 
bid a last adieu to all things earthly ? We have arrived 
almost at the commencement of a new year; it will 
pass as swiftly and as silently as the past has, and at its 
close it will be said of some of us, they have gone to 
their last account ! Thus it has been in the closing 
year, and the thing that hath been is that which shall 
be. Seats are now vacant in this house of God which, 
at the beginning of the year, w r ere filled by some who 
were then present as we are now ; and of some of us it 
is doubtless written in the secret purposes of Heaven, 
next year they shall die. Oh ! that the conviction of 
our frailty, and of the brief, uncertain, period of our 
continuance on earth might even now penetrate our 
hearts, teaching us to rise in our desires, and hopes, 
and joys, above this dark scene of our temporary pil- 
grimage, and to live for God, for heaven, for immortal- 
ity. Oh ! that it might animate us even now to double 
diligence, fidelity, patience, self-denial, in doing and suf- 
fering our Master's will, that when the night cometh, 
in which no man can work, we may enter into rest, 
cheered by that joy inspiring testimonial of his graci- 
ous approbation, " well done, good and faithful servants, 
enter ye into the joy of your Lord/' 

In the third place, the end of all things is at hand, 
not only because an appointed day is hastening when 
this earth and you, hearers, shall pass away, and because 
we shall, long ere that day arrives, bid a last adieu to 
all things earthly, but also because all the objects of 
time and sense are frail and fluctuating ; human socie- 
ty, in all its relations and interests, is full of change ; 
and the world itself, with everything fair and excellent 
that it contains, is constantly fading and dying around us. 

The fashion of this world passeth away, saith the apos- 
tle. " Surely," saith the psalmist, " every man walk- 



THE END OF ALL THINGS AX HAND. 22 Y 

etli in a vain show, surely they are disquieted in vain ; 
he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall ga- 
ther them.' 7 What striking illustrations of the fluctua- 
ting, changeful, and transitory nature of all things earth- 
ly, does the history of the year that is just closing fur- 
nish. Throughout the earth preparation has been mak- 
ing for the consummation of all things. All nature has 
grown old, and the processes which will ultimately re- 
duce material things to their original elements have 
been steadily, though silently, progressive. Under the 
moral government of God, men have formed and de- 
veloped their moral character, and thus have heaped up 
treasures for the last day, and ripened for the retribu- 
tions of eternity. Some have cordially accepted God's 
offered mercy, given him their hearts, and been adopt- 
ed into his redeemed family, and made heirs of an in- 
corruptible inheritance. Others have rejected his gra- 
cious offers, hardened their hearts against the calls of 
liis gospel, grieved away his blessed spirit, and provok- 
ed him to leave them to their own devices, and thus 
give them up to hopeless impenitence, and stamp them 
with the seal of reprobation. To the first, there is now 
no condemnation. They have seen the end of the 
guilt and power of sin. The darkness is already past, 
and the true light, the light of life, has begun to shine 
upon their souls, and it will brighten till it is lost in the 
effulgence of eternal day. 

Of the others, it has been already written, " they are 
joined to idols, let them alone ; they live, but it is to 
fill up the measure of their sins ; they have seen the 
end of hope ; they have passed beyond the reach of 
mercy." Others still, who have not yet attained to de- 
cisive' piety or hopeless sin, have been steadily advanc- 
ing towards one of these results. Not one of us has 
been stationary either in his progress toward eternity, 



228 SERMONS. 

or in his preparation for the portion that awaits him 
there. The acts we have performed, the emotions we 
have cherished, the motives that have governed us, our 
privileges and opportunities of doing and receiving 
good are passed, and can never be recalled. The 
changes of condition and relations among men, which 
the last vear has witnessed, have been not less than the 
changes of character. Some have risen to honor and 
affluence, while others have sunk into obscurity and 
povertjr. Some have found settled homes and quiet 
habitations, while others have gone out from their 
peaceful abodes to wander among strangers, or are 
tossed upon the ocean. Intimate connexions, endeared 
friendships, have been formed, and they have been for 
ever broken off; new charms have been added to many 
a social circle, while many another has been invaded 
and robbed of its brightest ornament by relentless 
death. Plans and pursuits have been successful and 
abortive ; hopes and fears have been realized or dissi- 
pated. All things have been full of change, and all 
those changes have now passed, never to return. The 
year on which we shall soon enter will resemble that 
which is just closing, in its varied and unlooked for 
changes, as in its .rapid flight. Human life is like the 
ocean, it ebbs and flows ; now its smooth and glassy 
surface reflects the heavens ; now it heaves and tosses 
in restless and fitful agitations. Our plans, our pursuits, 
our connexions, our enjoyments, are like characters 
drawn upon the sand, when the next wave passes over 
and obliterates them for ever. All flesh is as grass, and 
all the goodliness thereof as the flower of grass ; the 
grass withereth, the flower thereof fadeth ; the wind 
passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof 
shall know it no more. The end of all things is at 
hand. 



THE END OF ALL THINGS AT HAND. 229 

And now, my brethren, what practical lessons ought 
we to learn from the view we have thus taken of our- 
selves, as dying creatures, and of this as a fading, dying 
world? Surely Ave ought to give heed to the ex- 
hortation of the Eternal Spirit addressed to us by 
the apostle. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto 
prayer. Shall we not subdue, and govern, and restrain, 
within the strictest bounds of temperance, those appe- 
tites and passions which belong only to these dying 
bodies, and which, if indulged, will destroy our souls? 
Shall not the reflection, that the end of all things is at 
hand, chill the fervors of the sensualist, and teach even 
ardent, impetuous youth, to check every sally of way- 
ward passion? Do I address a son or daughter of 
pleasure, one who seeks happiness in the indulgence of 
appetite and passion ? Pause, fellow sinner, while the 
last moments of the closing year yet linger ; pause, and 
ask thyself, how has it been spent ? What fruit have I 
gathered as it passed ? What report has it borne to the 
bar of God ? What influence has it exerted on my ever- 
lasting destinies ? What record of it is now engraven 
on my conscience and written in the book of God? 
Ponder these questions, in the near view of that con- 
flict with the last enemy which is drawing nigh, and 
that open grave into which thou art fast descending ! 
Infatuated being ! may God have mercy on thee, spare 
thee yet another year, and teach thee to act as becomes 
a rational, accountable, immortal man. But sobriety 
implies moderation in our desires, pursuits, and enjoy- 
ments of earthly good, as well as temperance. There 
are lessons here for the worldly minded, the votaries of 
wealth and honor. Oh ! ye who thus labor for the 
meat that perisheth, the end of all things is at hand. 
Have you a covenant with death, that he will not take 
away your idols ; or an agreement with the grave, that 

11 



230 SERMONS. 

it shall not swallow up your joys? Let the closing 
year admonish you that life draws near its close ; that 
you are going out of the world naked as you entered 
it ; that you are summoned to give in your last account 
before a judge who will favor you no more than the 
meanest beggar, or the poorest slave. Ah ! how many 
years have you already wasted in the vain attempt to 
erect an edifice on ground that is sliding away beneath 
your feet. How long have you imitated him to whom 
God said, " Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be re- 
quired of thee." Why will you act so foolish, so sim- 
ple, so dangerous a part, w T hen life and immortality are 
brought to light ? When you are invited to seek dura- 
ble riches, why spend ye money for that which is not 
bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not ? 

But the subject should teach us lessons of devotion as 
well as of soberness. Be ye therefore sober, and watch 
unto prayer. Oh ! my friends, how near, how very 
near, are the dread realities of the eternal world ; how 
thin the veil which separates us now from the world of 
spirits. And as time bears us onward, that distance is 
daily and hourly growing less, and death stands ready 
in a moment to draw aside that veil and usher us, dis- 
embodied spirits, into the immediate presence of the 
great and holy God ! And shall we forget that awful 
eternity on whose very threshold we daily walk, or fail 
to recognise our relations to that adorable Being whose 
glorious perfections will so soon break, in unclouded 
splendor, upon our souls ? Forbid it, reason, duty, con- 
science ; forbid, Parent of our mercies. No : let us 
look at those things w r hich are unseen and eternal; 
let us endure, as seeing him who is invisible ; let us 
walk as pilgrims and strangers, feeling that we have 
here no abiding place, no continuing city ; let us daily 
acknowledge our obligations to God, and our depend- 



THE END OF ALL THINGS AT HAND. 231 

ence on him ; let us daily seek his favor as life, and his 
loving kindness as better than life ; let us watch against 
the fascinations of worldly pursuits and pleasures, and 
the deplorable proneness of our own hearts to bury 
themselves amid the transient concerns of this fleeting 
state. God has made us capable of knowing, loving, 
and obeying him, and of rising by his grace, and through 
the mediation of his Son, to the fellowship of angels, 
and the ennobling and everlasting joys of communion 
with himself. Be it ours to walk with him by faith in 
his Son, our Saviour, imploring the continual aid of 
his blessed Spirit to cherish in us childlike reverence, 
humility, love, obedience, and confidence, that, being 
found faithful in doing and suffering all his blessed 
will, we may enter into rest, and have it said of each of 
us, as of one of old, " He walked with God, and he 
was not, for God took him." Then, when we leave this 
dying world, and all its changing, fading scenes behind, 
we shall reach the end of our faith, and realize the con- 
summation of our hopes. 



SERMON X. 
DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 

u It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." 
— Hebrews ix. 2*7. 

To-day, my friends, I am to speak to you of death and 
judgment ; subjects not indeed new, but grand, affecting, 
and solemn ; not unknown to you, but by many of 
you thoughtlessly neglected, by many of you studi- 
ously forgotten. 

Oh ! immortal beings, hastening to eternity, yet sur- 
rounded by objects of sense, and prone to be so fascinated 
by their fading splendor, that death and judgment steal 
unobserved upon them. That which reminds them of 
these great events can hardly be ill-timed. The present 
occasion, bringing to our recollection one who lately 
worshipped with us, but has now gone to that unseen 
world whence there is no return, renders meditation 
upon these themes peculiarly appropriate. Permit me, 
then, to call your attention to them as a dying man to 
his dying fellow men; as an accountable creature of 
God to those with whom he must shortly appear before 
him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 
Do thou, all quickening Spirit, sole author of truth and 
holiness, breathe upon my soul, that I may speak truth 
only, and with a faithful application of it to myself; 
and shed thy gracious influences upon the hearts of this 
people that they may receive the truth in the love of 
it ; grant thou the hearing ear, the understanding mind, 
the applying conscience, that the word may spring up 



DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 233 

in their hearts and bear fruit unto eternal life, that so 
we may rejoice together in the great day of the Lord's 
appearing. 

I am to speak of death : " It is appointed unto men 
once to die." Ah, who so mad as to doubt that he must 
die ! Many of you confess that you are mortal, but live 
as though you would never die. How many of you 
are as much absorbed in the pursuit or the enjoyment 
of this world, as if this were the mansion of your eternal 
residence, not an inn where you can tarry but a night. 

Consider, then, it; is the appointment of the unchang- 
ing God that all men shall die. In the day that man 
sinned, God pronounced this affecting sentence : "Dust 
thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return/' Almighty 
power is pledged to carry the sentence into execution, 
and it cannot be resisted; it cannot fail. As the 
supreme moral Governor of the universe, God gives 
laws to his intelligent creatures, which it is possible for 
them to violate, as well as to obey ; but as the Sovereign 
and uncontrollable disposer of life and death, there is 
none may stay his hand or say unto him, what doest 
thou ? While we regard the operation of second causes 
which are obvious to our senses, we are apt to forget 
the great first cause from whom they derive all their 
efficiency. But let us ever bear in mind that if we 
must die, it is because he has so decreed. On account 
of our sin, let us know that he will bring us unto death, 
and to the hour appointed for all living. He has 
ordained that in our journey to the eternal world we 
should pass through the dark valley of the shadow of 
death. He has given to the King of terrors that com- 
mission to which all must bow. Look back now upon 
the history of past ages, and consider how uniformly 
the sentence of the Almighty hath been carried into 
execution. How many generations of men have lived 



234 



RERMOVP. 



on earth from the days of our first parents to the pre- 
sent time. Each generation once as noisy and as 
bustling, as full of life and activity, of desire and hope, 
of business and pleasure, as that to which we belong. 
But where are they now? The decree of the Eternal 
God has gone into execution, and they have returned 
to the dust from which they were taken. On their 
plans, their pursuits, their pleasure, the grave has closed 
for ever. How long, think you, ere the present genera- 
tion shall be numbered with those that have passed 
away ? How long ere these bodies, cold and lifeless, 
shall repose beneath the clods of the valley ? the bleak 
winds of winter howling over our graves : the men of 
other times trampling on the places where they lie, 
with as little concern as we now tread on the uncon- 
scious dust of our predecessors. How many of those 
whom we once knew have already gone down to the 
house appointed for all living? Where, my aged 
hearers, are the tender parents who cherished your 
helpless infancy ? Where the playmates of your child- 
hood, the companions of your youth, your associates 
in the cares, the business, and the pleasures of mature 
age ? Where, my dear hearers of every age, are many 
whom we once knew and loved, and who seemed as 
likely to escape the stroke of death as we ? The record 
of their kindness and friendship is yet fresh in the 
tablets of memory and imagination. We can still trace 
the well known features of each much loved form, but 
we see them no more, we hear them no more, we shall 
meet them no more until we meet them in those unseen 
abodes whither they have gone. We shall go to them, 
but they will return to us no more. 

Yes, my friends, Ave live in a dying world. All flesh 
is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of 
grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof 



DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 235 

falleth away. For what is our life ; it is but a vapor 
that appearcth for a little and then vanisheth away. 
Our fellow men are continually dying around us, and 
ever and anon the messenger of the Almighty is sent 
to call away one and another from among ourselves. 

The period which shall terminate our mortal course 
is already fixed, and each day, each hour, each moment, 
brings it nearer. This Sabbath past, and one less will 
remain to us on earth ; and while I speak and while 
you listen, the time approaches when the cold finger o 
death shall stop your ears, and his icy touch shall stiffen 
my tongue ; the seeds of decay and dissolution are 
sown thickly in these frail and dying bodies ; toil and 
anxiety, sorrow and disease, weariness and pain — all 
serve to quicken and promote their vegetation, and to 
hasten the time when they shall bring forth fruit unto 
death. In many respects mankind differ ; but in this 
all agree. The young, the old, the rich, the poor, the 
bond, the free, the wise and the foolish, the saint and 
the sinner, all, all, must die. All hasten to the grave, 
all must lie down in the dust, all must become the vic- 
tims of corruption, and the food of worms. 

But death is not only certain and universal, it is a 
most solemn event Consider it only as the extinction 
of life, and what can be more affecting. There is 
something in man that clings instinctively to life, that 
shrinks away from the cold embrace of death ; so that, 
however wretched men may be, and however regardless 
of futurity, few are willing deliberately to lay it down. 
The consciousness of a good cause and the firm hope of 
a blessed immortality, have often led to a calm and 
joyful sacrifice of life itself; but where these are want- 
ing, it has seldom been made except in the transports 
of passion, the delirium of madness, or the gloom of 
despair. 



236 SERMONS. 

Who can think, without emotion, of all the changes 
which death makes in these bodies, of all the symptoms 
which precede, the circumstances which attend, and 
the consequences which follow it ? How strength, ac- 
tivity, and beauty wither at his approach ; how the 
heart ceases to beat, the lungs to play, the bltfod to 
circulate ; how the cheek fades, the eye is dimmed of 
its lustre, the countenance robbed of its expression, 
the brow moistened by the cold dews which congeal 
upon it, passion is extinguished, sense and motion are 
destroyed, corruption begins its work, and the cold and 
silent grave closes upon its victim. 

These are affecting, but when we consider that death 
makes a final separation between us and every earthly 
object ; that he takes us away from the friends we love, 
the pursuits we delight in, the hopes we cherish, the 
pleasures we seek; that he removes us from all the 
well known realities of life ; that he leads us to the 
brink of a precipice, beyond which all is dark and 
silent, down w^hich though thousands leap, yet each 
must leap alone, and none return to tell us what lies 
beyond. "We may well say it is a most solemn thing 
to die. But what makes it so? It is not the sad 
retinue of circumstances which precede, attend, and 
follow the extinction of life in these mortal bodies ; it 
is not the convulsive struggle in which life and death 
contend for the mastery, and life is overpowered and 
death prevails ; it is not the shroud, the coffin, or the 
grave, cold, dark, and silent as it is. No, it is none of 
these that gives to death its deepest interest, its most 
awful solemnity. But when we look upon it as the 
dissolution of the union between the mortal body and 
the immortal spirit, which now inhabits it, as the close 
of our probationary state, as the sentence of the Eternal 
Judge sealing up our characters, and summoning us 



DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 23*7 

away to give an account of the deeds done in the body ; 
then, indeed, it appears to be one of the most momentous 
eras of our existence ; one of the most awful changes 
which can ever pass over us. Death unveils to the 
immortal spirit all the dread realities of the invisible 
world ; he conducts it to the bar of the great God ; he 
ushers it into the retributions of eternity ; for as it is 
appointed to men " once to die, so after this the 
judgment." The Bible teaches us that death fixes un- 
changeably the character and the destiny of the evil 
and the good, that from the struggles of dissolution, 
the wicked go away to the prison of eternal justice, and 
the righteous are at once conveyed to the joys and the 
blessedness of Paradise. In this allotment of their 
different portions, a divine sentence is virtually passed 
on every individual. But it teaches also that a day is 
fixed at the close of the present dispensation, when, to 
manifest the wisdom and goodness of God in his go- 
vernment of this world, and to bring to a consummation 
all his purposes of justice and mercy, there shall be a 
general judgment. 

This it is that is spoken of in the text as coming after 
death; not that it follows it immediately, but most 
certain ly ; and because in judgment every man must 
appear, and receive his final sentence, in the character he 
lore ivhen he died. To this judgment to come, let us 
now direct our attention. 

Admit the being and perfections of God, and no 
doctrine of natural religion can be more clearly seen by 
the light of nature. The wisdom, the goodness, the 
justice, the truth of God, all demand it, as their only 
vindication from the charges which the inequality and 
imperfection of the dispensations of Divine Providence 
in the present life, would otherwise seem to fix upon 
them. Reason, conscience, and the universal consent 

11* 



SERMONS. 



of mankind in every age and country, bear testimony 
to it in the most positive manner. But why do I appeal 
to them, when we have in our hands the sure word of 
the living God? God hath spoken, and what he reveals 
on this subject commends itself to the conscience of 
every honest man. He hath assured us that "he will 
bring every work into judgment with every secret 
thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil ;" that 
the time is already fixed, the circumstances are already 
arranged, and that as surely as men must once die, so 
surely after this they must be judged. The same God, 
my friends, who has decreed that you shall die, has 
decreed also that you shall go to judgment. Y ou can 
no more escape the one, than you can avoid the other. 
In the execution of a part of the decree, behold a pledge 
that the whole shall be fulfilled. The sacred Scriptures 
give us much interesting information concerning this 
grand and awful event. They teach that the Judge 
who, in that solemn day, shall fix the everlasting desti- 
nies of men, shall be no other than the Saviour of 
sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the 
covenant of grace, uniting in his own person supreme 
Divinity with perfect humanity. And who so proper 
to settle finally the concerns of this world, as he whose 
interest and honor are most intimately connected with 
it ? Who so fit to bestow eternal life on his humble 
followers as he who lived and died for their salvation, 
and to pronounce the final sentence of eternal death 
on the impenitent and unbelieving as he whose gracious 
offers they have neglected, whose dying love they have 
despised ? Jesus Christ shall judge the living and the 
dead at his appearing and kingdom. But oh ! how 
unlike the man of sorrow, how changed since his soul 
was exceeding sorrowful even unto death, he lay 
prostrate in Gethsemane under the burden of our guilt ; 



DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 239 

exhausted by suffering, he fainted as he bore his cross 
up the hill of Calvary, and on the cross he cried out as 
one most desolate, " My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me/' Behold he cometh with clouds, and 
every eye shall see him. " The Son of man shall come 
in the glory of his Father and all the holy angels with 
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. 
And I saw, saith John, a great white throne and him 
that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens 
fled away, and there was found no place for them." 
But who may describe the glory of his appearing? 
Heaven and earth shall own a present God. He shall 
speak, and all that are in their graves shall hear his 
voice and come forth, they that have done good to the 
resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the 
resurrection of damnation. Death shall throw open his 
prison doors, and release his captives. The sea shall 
give up the dead that are in it, and death and hell shall 
deliver up the dead who are in them, and the dead, 
small and great, shall stand before God. In a moment, 
in the twinkling of an eye, the dead shall be raised and 
the living shall be changed. 

Before him shall be gathered all nations. We must 
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every 
one may receive the things done in the bod^ according 
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Of 
all the descendants of Adam, not one shall be forgotten, 
from the first of our fallen race who died by a brother's 
hand, to the last infant whose earliest slumbers in a 
mother's arms shall be wakened by the thunders of 
that day ! 

AVhat a vast assembly ! yet each individual shall feel 
that his concern in the transactions of that day is per- 
sonal. Each one shall feel as if the eye of the Judge 
were fixed on him alone, and all the unnumbered mil- 



240 SERMO-NS. 

lions were collected to be spectators of his doom. Oh ! 
my God, each one of us shall be there. Before thine 
awful bar each one of us shall lift up his head, waiting 
with more than mortal transport for his redemption, 
which draweth nigh, or in wild despair shall cry, and 
cry in vain : " Mountains fall on us, rocks cover us 
from the face of the Lamb, for the great day of his 
wrath is come, and who is able to stand l" 

Every one of us must give account of himself unto 
God. Then shall the books be opened, and the dead 
judged out of the things written in the books, accord- 
ing to their works. What hidden things shall then be 
revealed ! what secret things be brought to light ! For 
God will bring every work into judgment, and every 
secret thing, whether it be good or evil. Now the om- 
niscient eye of the Judge is upon us; noio it reaches 
the deepest and darkest recesses of our souls ; noio it 
penetrates our bosoms, discerns all our motives, lays 
bare the most hidden springs of our conduct. Our own 
consciences now record every action, every word, every 
feeling, every thought. In the day of judgment, the 
book of conscience and the book of God's omniscience 
shall be opened, their contents published to an assem- 
bled universe, to justify that sentence which shall be 
passed on every one according to his works. Oh ! if 
ye have not fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set 
before you in the gospel ; if your sins have not been 
washed away in a Saviour's blood, and your souls 
clothed in a Saviour's righteousness, how can ye bear 
the disclosures of that day ! Whatever may be your 
lives, you know, my dear brethren, that your hearts 
are by nature far from God, full of all pride, of forget- 
fulness of God, of ingratitude for his mercies, of dislike 
to his worship, and disobedience to his law. Oh ! fly, 



DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 241 

fly to the atoning blood of Christ, lest death and judg- 
ment overtake you in your sins. 

Then the character of every man shall be fully dis- 
closed, and compared with the holy law of God ; and 
it shall appear that by the deeds of the law, no flesh 
can be justified in the sight of God. Then it shall be 
manifest, that if men must stand or fall according to 
their own merits, one sweeping sentence of condemna- 
tion must consign every individual to eternal sorrow. 
But another book shall be opened, which is the book of 
life. Then shall the inquiry be made, who are united 
to the Lord Jesus ? who have a right to plead for par- 
don through his atoning sufferings and death, for eternal 
life, through his meritorious and perfect righteousness ? 
I tell you, my dear friends, not every one who now 
calls himself a Christian, not every one who says " Lord, 
Lord," shall be accepted of him. " In that day," saith 
he, " many will say unto me, Lord, Lord, and then I will 
profess unto them I never knew you ; depart from me 
ye that work iniquity." The fruits of the spirit shall 
then be sought after, as the evidence that the spirit of 
Christ has dwelt in those who named his name ; for if 
any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his. 
The work of faith shall then be sought as the evidence 
of its genuineness. The lives of professing Christians 
shall then be the test by which the sincerity of the pro- 
fession shall be tried. And thus, while the rich reward 
shall be wholly of free grace, it shall be according to 
every man's work. In that day, many a poor sufferer, 
who, in deep obscurity, has lived a life of faith and 
prayer, who has walked humbly with his God, and 
bowed in meek submission to the hardships of his lot, 
shall be owned as a son by the King of Kings and 
Lord of Lords ; while the self-righteous Pharisee, or 
the licentious Antinomian. shall have his portion as- 



242 SERMONS. 

signed him with evil doers, where is weeping and wail- 
ing, and gnashing of teeth. But if strict scrutiny shall 
be made among the professed followers of Christ, what 
shall be the end of those who have never named his 
name? of the gay, the worldly, the dissipated, the pro- 
fane, the scoffing ? If the righteous scarcely be saved, 
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Mo- 
mentous question. Listen, I pray you, to the answer 
of your own consciences and the Word of God. And 
now when the awful inquiry is ended, when the wicked 
are separated from among the just, when all the friends 
of Christ are gathered upon his right hand, and all his 
enemies upon the left, then shall the King say to them 
on his right hand, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
tion of the world." Then shall he say also to them on 
his left hand, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast- 
ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; and 
these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but 
the righteous into life eternal." I give you the final 
sentence, my hearers, in the words of Christ himself; 
words which you and I must hear at that coming day ; 
and I will attempt to explain them. Everlasting pun- 
ishment! Eternal life ! weighty, incomprehensible words ! 
Whose mind can scan their extent? whose imagination 
can grasp their import? Oh, Eternity! mysterious, 
awful, unknown. Thou only canst teach their full 
meaning to created minds, as thy successive ages roll 
on in their endless course they shall unfold it, but 
never, never, shall it be exhausted ! 

My dear hearers, to you it is appointed once to die, 
but after this the judgment. Yet a little while and 
those eyes shall be closed for ever on all earthly scenes ; 
that beating pulse shall cease ; those bodies, cold, mo- 
tionless, and insensible, shall be wrapped in the shroud, 



DEATH AND JUDGMENT. 243 

shut up in the coffin, or deposited in the grave. Those 
immortal spirits shall behold around them the dread re- 
alities of the invisible world ; shall feel that the eye of 
the great God is fixed upon them, and know themselves 
to be children of his love and heirs of his favor ; or 
children of disobedience and heirs of perdition. A 
little longer — a very little compared with the eternity of 
God or the immortal existence of the soul — and the 
voice of the Son of God shall awaken those bodies 
from the sleep of death, and, rising from the opening 
grave, they shall meet those souls called by the same 
powerful voice from the mansions of the blessed or the 
prison of despair, where they had waited, in joyful 
hope or trembling horror, the morning of the resurrec- 
tion, and be again united to them. Then shall ye be- 
hold the earth wrapped in the fires of final conflagra- 
tion, all nature struggling in the last agonies of dissolu- 
tion, the sun turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, 
and through yon opening heavens the Son of God de- 
scending in all his Father's glory, thousand thousands 
ministering unto him, and ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand round about him. Then must you stand at his 
tribunal, and hear from his lips that sentence which, 
according to the deeds done in the body, shall fix your 
destiny unchangeably and for ever. Look forward to 
those solemn scenes which lie before you. Are you 
prepared for them? Oh ! let the question come home 
to your consciences. What will it avail to put it from 
you? "Will that alter it? No. You may forget it, 
you may deny it, you may even scoff at it, still it is 
true. God hath appointed unto you once to die, and 
after this the judgment. It is the counsel of the Lord, 
and it shall stand, it cannot fail. Are you prepared 
for it ? The Bible teaches what a preparation is : be- 
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ye shall be saved ; 



244 SERMONS. 

repent ye and be converted, and your sins shall be 
blotted out ; he that believeth not shall be damned ; 
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish ; follow 
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. 
Have you been converted ? Are you true penitents ? 
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ ? And the 
lives which ye now live in the flesh, do ye live by the 
faith of the Son of God who loved you and gave him- 
self for you ? Happy if this be, indeed, your charac- 
ter. For you, then, death has no terrors ; he has 
been conquered ; he has been disarmed by the great 
Captain of your salvation ; for you the grave is the 
bed of peaceful repose, from which you shall awake 
with joy in the bright morning of the resurrection. To 
you all the solemnities of judgment, though awful, 
shall yet be pleasing ; amid all the majesty of the Judge, 
you shall recognise your kind, and compassionate, and 
loving Redeemer ; he will own you as his ; and having 
overcome you, shall sit down with him on his throne, 
even as he overcame, and is sat down with his Father 
on his throne. Wherefore, beloved brethren, be ye 
steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work 
of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in 
the Lord. 

If this be not your character, I call upon you, my 
dear hearers, by all the solemnities of death, of judg- 
ment, and eternity, to repent of your sins, and believe 
in the Lord Jesus Christ without delay. As an ambas- 
sador of Christ, as though God did beseech you, I pray 
you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. As a 
dying fellow creature, who must soon meet you in eter- 
nity, I entreat, I adjure you, by all that is sacred, pre- 
pare to meet thy God. 



SERMON XL 

PEACE IN DEATH. 

" And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, 
receive my spirit." — Acts yii. 59. 

The narrative of the death of Stephen, the first disciple 
of the Lord Jesus who suffered martyrdom for his 
fidelity and affection to his master, is highly interesting 
and instructive. It affords, on the one hand, a striking 
proof of the depravity and blindness of fallen man, and 
an awful example of the lengths to which men may be 
carried in impiety and unrighteousness, by prejudice 
and bigotry, under the specious pretence of zeal for 
religion ; and on the other, a glorious illustration of the 
excellence of the Gospel of Christ, and its power to fill 
the soul with the most pure and ardent love to God 
and man, and to raise it quite above the dread of dan- 
ger and the sense of suffering, and enable it, in the most 
trying circumstances, to rejoice in God with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory. 

We first hear of Stephen in the sixth chapter of Acts, 
where we are told he was chosen one of the seven 
deacons, who were appointed to attend to the temporal 
concerns of the church. He is there termed " a man 
full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." In the latter part 
of the sixth chapter, we are told that Stephen wrought 
great miracles among the people, and that certain men 
belonging to a synagogue of unconverted Jews, under- 
took to dispute with him and refute his doctrine. But 
they soon found themselves unequal to the task, for 



Mi MJUI0X5. 



they could not resist the wisdom and power with which 
he bore testimony to the divine mission, character, and 
doctrines of I Too full of prejudice and pride 

to receive the truth with candor, they were inflamed 
with rage against the man who had thus put them to 
silence, and sought to take his life. To accomplish 
their atrocious design, they resorted to falsehood and 
perjury. They suborned witnesses to testify that he 
had spoken blasphemy against Moses and against God. 
This charge, sufficient under any circumstances to rouse 
the blind zeal and bigotry of the people, was doubly 
efficacious when alleged against one already obnoxious 
to their rulers and teachers as a bold and powerful 
:.— tit:: :: :ie M-rs^iiiil::; :: -7 i s .: s —*_::::: :_tt Lii 
i:!::" j:";:::t:;. A : :^:" : :. ; :.s -■..s^zzi':\?.,-^ :: :■„'! 

they bore him violently into the apartment of the 

ten : :L-r ii. "L::L :"_r ± :i:.: :::.::::- ::' :~_r lirl::. \;s\::.Lt 
sat, and there called on him to answer to the charge. 
This he did in a speech of considerable length, evidently 
designed to prove, from their own history, that God 
never meant the ceremonial law and the temple service 
to be perpetual ; that their rejection of Jesus Christ did 
not in the least invalidate his claims; and that, in 
opposing him, they were exposing themselves to immi- 
nent danger of destruction by the judgments of the 
Almighty. But while he kept these objects in view, 
he saw that their feelings were such, that he would not 
lr h:..f~: s :'.. :: s : i:^: :.: iir r :::- i Lis :i:r::::*: = . :.:.;1 
::.:•: ::::::'. i'.~ Li ::;:! :_:: y:\~ Lis :.:_".:i-.r^: :.i L~ ~r~: 
along, but simply stated known factSy designing, no 
; ; .;: :: 11: .:: :^ MziiLnsiii: :: '^"i: :L :iiry 7i. 
L;.;l L-r ':-: ::-rrzi:::rd :: in/Lsii Lis sti-^iL. As he 
y.r: :eiiri :L^t =.-. -.- n:re :..m; ::. ire : 1^ r.~ :Lr :t:^::t 
:: Lis ;..:r;_.-i:.:s : i~i :Lri: i::.S;iiii; ::sr :: s:iL 5, 



PEACE IN DEATH. 24 7 

height, that he was forced to break off abruptly before 
he had completed his address. While he did this, he 
reproved them in the most bold, faithful, and energetic 
manner, for their unbelief and obduracy, their perse- 
cutions of the prophets in violations of their own law, 
and above all, their recent guilt in betraying and mur- 
dering the Just One, to whom Moses in the law and all 
the prophets bear witness. To the truth of this charge, 
their own consciences bore testimony, and they were 
cut to the heart. Convicted of guilt, and stung with 
remorse, yet they were too proud and obdurate to repent 
and seek forgiveness, and they turned all their rage 
upon the man whose keen reproofs had pierced them 

th such anguis 

Exasperated beyond bounds, they lost all self-com- 
mand, and gnashed upon him with their teeth. In this 
trying moment, the master whom he loved did not 
forsake his faithful servant. Full of faith and of the 
Holy Ghost, Stephen looked up steadfastly to Heaven, 
as if calling upon God to bear witness to the truths he 
had declared, to give him strength to seal his testimony 

h his blood, and to reverse the unrighteous dec:- 
of his enemies : when, behold, by a miraculous opera- 
tion of Divine power upon his mind, he had a lively 
exhibition of the glory of the invisible God, and Jesus, 
whom he loved, shining in celestial radiance at the right 
of the Majesty on high, standing as if he had just risen 
from his throne to witness, encourage, and to receive 
his servant. In an e r he ex- 

claimed : M Behold, I see the Heaven opened, and the 
Son of man standing at the right hand of God. He 
ndemned and crucified, reigns, and shall 
ever reign to save his people and to execute judgment 
on his enemies." This was more than they could bear. 
Stopping their ears that they might hear no more on 



. -r I SERM 

this hated subject, and drowning hi3 voice in a loud 
:;nd horror, -hed upon him, and 

encouraging one another in their bloody work, they 
thrust him violently out of the city, that it might not 
be polluted by his blood, and as soon as they had got 
beyond : with one accord they stoned him to 

death. And now, what a contrast wasexhibited between 
the spirit of the world and the spirit of J 
Behold the frantic multitude, hurrying along their 
im to the place when -ight glut their ven- 

geance with his blood runtenance distorted with 

voice hoarse with pat motion 

indicating the fell demon of cruelty and malice which 
had taken full possession of their souls. Turn now to 
the disciple of es is : Bee him b srene and tranquil amid 
the bursting tempest, his countenance beaming pe 
and love, and joy, his attention fixed, his mind absorbed, 
in those bright and beatif: a which opened upon 

him, rapt in the fervors of devotion, and alone with 
God as if he had been in his closet ; his glad soi il 
ulting at his departure, i-ing in the strength and beauty 
of his Redeemer to shake off the dust of earth and the 
dew of death, and soar on seraph pinions to the bosom 
of hi- S :.--: hit and his God. See them as they 

:\;shing with savage s upon their 

victim, loading him with execrations, and yieing with 
each other in the work of death, and when their work 
is done, gazing with fiend-like exultation on the ghastly 
mangled object of their rage, retiring slowly and 
sullenly, their hands stained with the blood of innocence, 
the guilt of murder on their b meditate on what 

they had done, to feel shame and the dread of a coming 
judgment as passion subsides, : vrrithe under the up- 
braiding lilty conscience. Behold the bie 
martyr recalled to the recollection of what was passing 



PEACE IN DEATH. 249 

around him, by the power of his enemies when they 
had come to the place of execution ; first, calmly com- 
mitting his spirit to that Saviour who had redeemed 
him by his blood, whose glories he beheld, for whose 
sake he died. There, as one, whose last petition for 
himself was granted, kneeling down, praying with his 
d}'ing breath that the sin of his murderers might be 
forgiven, he sweetly falls asleep in Jesus, to awake in 
the likeness of God and be for ever with his Lord. 
What a triumph of the gospel ! How closely did the 
disciple copy the example of his Master! By the 
promises of the gospel men are said to be partakers of 
the divine nature, and here it is exemplified. Here is 
God-like love to enemies. How peaceful was the mar- 
tyr's end. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the 
upright, for the end of that man is peace ;" whether 
like the good old patriarch, he die in his bed with his 
children around him, or, like Stephen, in the hands of 
men of violence and blood. But the enemies of the 
Lord Jesus, the persecutors of his servant — how wretched 
as well as guilty were they ? Surely the wicked are 
like the troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters 
cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my 
God, to the wicked. 

The words of our text, the last prayer which Stephen 
offered for himself, suggest a number of interesting and 
important remarks. To some of them let me now call 
your attention ; and, First, they teach us the supreme 
divinity of our Lord and Saviour ; that Jesus Christ is 
God. 

No sin is more frequently and more severely con- 
demned in the Scriptures than idolatry, or giving to 
creatures that religious worship which is due to God 
alone. Of this, every one who reads the Bible must 
be fully aware. It is written in Deuteronomy, and 



250 SERMONS. 

again quoted by our Saviour : " Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The 
angel forbade John to worship him, saying : " See thou 
do it not ; worship God." By Isaiah we are command- 
ed : " Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be 
your fear, and let him be your dread ;" and in Exodus 
God saith: "Thou shalt worship no other God; for 
Jehovah, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." 
But here we behold Stephen, the first martyr — a man 
eminently favored of God, full of faith and of the Holy 
Ghost, — in the most solemn moment of his existence, in 
the full assurance of faith, with the Heavens open to his 
view, offering to the Lord Jesus his last act of religious 
worship on earth ; presenting his last prayer to him. 
Was he, indeed, worshipping a creature ? Was he 
guilty of idolatry while inspired by the Holy Ghost ; 
while the visions of God beamed upon his soul ; while 
he stood in the threshold of Heaven, with the full as- 
surance of an immediate admission there ? If he was 
not, then Jesus Christ is God. 

Consider what he prays for: "Lord, receive my 
spirit; Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." The 
first petition embraces the highest personal benefit for 
which prayer can be offered — the eternal salvation of 
the soul. Can any but God save the soul ? Can any- 
thing short of almighty power, and infinite wisdom 
and goodness, make the immortal spirit for ever holy 
and happy ? Stephen asks this favor of Jesus Christ. 
Was he not sure that he possessed those divine perfec- 
tions, and was able to grant what he asked ? Again : 
he prays that his enemies may not be finally condemn- 
ed for the sin of murdering him. Does he not then at- 
tribute to Christ the power of forgiving or condemning 
these murderers ? But who can forgive sin but God ? 
Can we conceive a higher act of worship than this ; or 



TEACE IN DEATH. 251 

an occasion more solemn ; or a person better qualified 
to worship aright ; or a more satisfactory evidence of 
acceptance ? Stephen offers to Christ the very prayer 
which Jesus, on the cross, had offered to the Father. 
He worships Christ, therefore, just as Christ worshipped 
the Father ! And is not Jesus Christ God? Nor is 
this instance of religious worship offered to the Lord 
Jesus a singular one. The Church is frequently dis- 
tinguished in the New Testament by the title of those 
who call upon, or worship, the Lord Jesus. Prophets 
and apostles are represented as worshipping him. Nay, 
the Father saith, when he bringeth in the first begotten 
into the world : " Let all the angels of God worship 
Jidm. n And John saw, in the Apocalypse, the whole 
church of the redeemed on high, and all the angels 
round about the throne worshipping the Lamb, and as- 
cribing to him power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
strength, and glory, and honor, and blessing. Were all 
these idolaters ? Have men, full of faith and the Holy 
Ghost, violated, through life and in death, the first 
commandment of Jehovah, " Thou shalt have no other 
God before me? :? — If Christ is not God, if he is not 
Jehovah, they have. Is there idolatry in Heaven ? — If 
Christ is not God, there is. But if this cannot be, then 
is Jesus Christ the true God and eternal life. The 
blessed martyr was not mistaken. Prophets and apos- 
tles, and holy men of God, were not mistaken. That 
pure and happy company who encircle the throne on 
high with unceasing songs, who see, face to face, and 
know even as they are known, are not in sin and error. 
Jesus Christ is God ; infinite in being and in blessed- 
ness ; supreme, independent, eternal. In this faith let 
me live ; and when my soul shall stretch her wings for 
that world which lies beyond the grave, may I have 
grace, like Stephen, to commit my eternal all to him, 



252 SERMONS. 

and to rely on his infinite power, and wisdom, and 
goodness, for my salvation. 

In the second place, we learn from this prayer of Ste- 
phen, that the souls of believers, at their death, go im- 
mediately to be with Christ. They do not sleep, as 
some have thought, inactive and unconscious until the 
resurrection of the body ; nor do they pass through 
purgatorial fires according to the dreams of others — for 
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth them from all sin ; 
nor are they reserved in an abode distinct from the 
highest heaven, in some place of rest where they are 
kept until the day of judgment, by some called the 
hades of the happy ; but they go directly to heaven it- 
self, to the immediate presence of the blessed God, to 
be with the glorified human nature of their beloved 
Lord. Before his crucifixion, Christ said to his afflicted 
disciples: "In my Father's house are many mansions ; 
I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go to prepare 
a place for you, I will come again and receive you to 
myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." After 
his resurrection, he explained his meaning more fully : 
" Go to my brethren," said he to Mary, " and say unto 
them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to 
my God and your God." There Stephen now beheld 
him: "I see Heaven opened, and the Son of Man, the 
glorified human nature of my Redeemer, standing on 
the right hand of God." Transported with the view of 
those glories which he saw, he prayed, " Lord Jesus, re- 
ceive my spirit." What is the meaning of this prayer, 
offered under these circumstances? Is it not, receive 
my spirit, to be with thee in that glory which I now 
behold ; to be with thee in heaven, at the right hand of 
God ? And this prayer he offered up while filled with 
the Holy Ghost. It was, therefore, agreeable to the will 
©f God, and no doubt it was granted. The same truth 



PJCAOI IN DEATH. 253 

Christ teaches in his promise to the penitent thief upon 
the cross — " To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." 
In the faith of this, Paul desired to depart and be with 
Christ, as for better than to remain in the church on 
earth ; and he and his brethren were willing rather to 
be absent from the body and to be present with the 
Lord. Yes, my brethren, when the body falls asleep in 
Jesus, the rejoicing spirit of the believer goes at once 
to be with Christ, to behold his glory, with no interpos- 
ing veil ; to be perfectly conformed to his likeness ; and 
to enjoy a blissful and everlasting communion and fel- 
lowship with him in his Father's house on high. Oh ! 
who can describe the change as it is experienced hj the 
departing follower of Jesus. How, as the last convul- 
sive struggles announce the dissolution of this mortal 
bod}^, the freed spirit rejoices in the full possession of 
life that knows no decay ; how, as the visions of time 
are shut out for ever from the eye closing in death, the 
realities of eternity break upon the soul in unclouded 
glory ; as the last sighs and groans of this vale of tears 
die upon the ear, the soul is ravished by the melody of 
heaven, and welcomed by those who have gone before, 
to join in their everlasting songs. As death, with un- 
pitying hand, breaks the last tie by which she was 
bound to earth, she feels herself united, indissolubly 
and for ever, to that Redeemer whom, while yet unseen, 
she loved, and believing in whom, she rejoiced even 
here with joy unspeakable and full of glory. " Blessed 
are the dead who die in the Lord ; yea, saith the Spirit, 
for they rest from their labors, and their works do fol- 
low them." 

A third remark, suggested by the words of our text, 
in connexion with the circumstances in which they were 
uttered, is this : Faith in Christ yields support and com- 
fort in a dying hour. None of us may be called to suf- 

12 



254 SERMONS. 

fer martyrdom for the truth ; none of us may die by the 
hand of violence ; yet we must all bow to the stroke of 
death ; and the conflict with the last enemy, whatever 
may be its attendant circumstances, is fearful and trying 
beyond expression. Surround the dying man with all 
that ingenuity and wealth can provide, soothe him with 
all the tender assiduities of friendship and affection, ex- 
haust every source of consolation which reason and 
philosophy can suggest, how unavailing are all these to 
relieve his pains or to dispel the gloom that gathers 
round his soul as his departure draws nigh. He is 
leaving all that he has loved or known ; he is sinking 
under a burden that grow r s heavier every moment, in 
spite of the convulsive struggles of nature to throw it 
off. A mortal chill creeps over his extremities and ap- 
proaches his heart ; before him all is dark and silent at 
the best ; from that world to which he goes, none have 
returned to give him information ; nor can any accom- 
pany him on his journey thither ; he is on the brink of 
a precipice, where all below and beyond is covered 
with impenetrable gloom ; on its crumbling verge he 
ponders with unutterable solicitude the destinies that 
await him. Shall his spirit rise buoyant above it to 
the regions of eternal day, or plunge into an ocean of 
sorrow and despair ? Eeason cannot answer : philoso- 
phy is dumb. The dying man shrinks back from the 
dark, untried abyss ; but an invisible power urges him 
onward ; he shudders and leaps headlong ; and his des- 
tiny is fixed for ever. But in the Gospel, life and immor- 
tality are brought to light. The lamp of revelation sheds 
celestial light on the otherwise impervious gloom that 
shrouds the entrance of eternity. The eye of faith can 
penetrate the dark chambers of the sepulchre, and 
descry beyond the holy, happy mansions of the blest. 
There she sees the general assembly, and church of the 



PEACE IN DEATH. 255 

first born, the spirits of just men made perfect, Jesus 
the mediator of the new covenant, and God the judge 
of all, confiding in the blood of sprinkling, which 
cleanseth from all sin, and filled with the spirit of 
adoption, which crieth Abba Father; the soul rests in 
the faithful promises of a gracious God, and calmly 
waits the coming of her last enemy, or hastens exulting 
to the conflict, assured of being made more than a con- 
queror through him who loved us and gave himself for 
us ; and exclaiming, in anticipated triumph, " Oh ! 
death, where is thy sting ! Oh ! grave, where is thy 
victory !" How tranquil, how triumphant, was the 
death of Stephen ! Though no earthly friend was near 
to soothe his pains, or whisper words of kindness, or 
close his eyes in death ; though vindictive passion 
glared upon him from every countenance about him; 
though he heard only reproaches and execrations, and 
sank beneath repeated blows from the hand of cruelty 
and violence ; yet, being full of faith and of the Holy 
Ghost, he saw Heaven opened, and the Son of Man 
standing at the right hand of God ; he saw himself sur- 
rounded by a great cloud of witnesses, sympathizing in 
his sufferings, approving his fidelity, and waiting to hail 
him as a conqueror. He beheld Jesus, the great Cap- 
tain of his salvation, smiling with divine complacency 
upon his servant, holding forth the incorruptible crown, 
and cheering him with the promise, " my grace is suf- 
ficient for thee ; to him that overcometh will I grant to 
sit down with me upon my throne, even as I overcame 
and have sat down with my Father upon his throne ; 
be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 
life." And think you he would have exchanged situa- 
tions with the most powerful and prosperous of his per- 
secutors ? Oh ! no. The place of his martyrdom was 
to him the threshold of heaven. From that enraged cir- 



256 8EUM0NS. 

clc of bloody men he passed to join the great company 
of the redeemed in the paradise on high ; and after a 
few pains and dying struggles, he entered the Heavenly 
Zion with songs and everlasting joj r . 

Thus does faith support the believer in the hour of 
death. Thus Paul could say when in prison, and in 
daily expectation of martyrdom, u I am now ready to be 
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." 
Thus that blessed company, who loved not their lives 
unto death, overcame. We must die. Would ye die 
in peace? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the last place, we may learn from this example of 
Stephen, that Jesus Christ abundantly rewards those 
who suffer for his sake. It is required of all who would 
be his disciples, to forsake all and follow him ; to deny 
themselves and take up the cross daily ; to love him more 
than they love houses or lands, or the dearest earthly 
friends, or life itself. In the first ages of the Church, his 
followers were often called to make every sacrifice, nay, 
not unfrequently to endure the most excruciating and 
unheard of sufferings for his sake. And the spirit of 
his religion is still the same. We cannot be his dis- 
ciples in truth without making sacrifices of much that 
the world counts dear, much that the unrenewed heart 
prizes highly, and clings to with tenacity. Let none 
think to follow a man of sorrows without suffering ; let 
none hope to live godly in Christ Jesus without tribu- 
lation. Yet the same voice which says " forsake all 
and follow me," saith also, " There is no man that hath 
left home, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for 
the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold 
more in this present time, and in the world to come, life 
everlasting." a Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, 
and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you 
falsely for my sake ; rejoice and be exceeding glad, for 



TEACE IN DEATH. 257 

great ia your reward in Heaven." "If we suffer with 
him, we shall also reign with him." "Come out from 
among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the un- 
clean thing, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye 
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Al- 
mighty.'' And have not these promises been found 
faithful ? Did not Stephen find them so? Were they 
not found so by the multitude who, in the first ages, 
sealed their testimony with their blood? Why, then, 
did they so cheerfully meet danger and death? Why 
did they even court the martyr's stake, that they might 
gain the martyr's crown ? Having these promises, 
dearly beloved, let us hold fast our profession, nothing 
wavering ; for if we honor Christ in our lives, we need 
have no fear that he will forsake us in the trying hour 
of death. 



SERMON XII. 

THE UNREASONABLENESS, GUILT, AND DANGER OF 
INDECISION. 

" And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye 
between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal, 
follow him." — 1 Kings xviii. 21. 

Baal was the name of an idol god, much worshipped 
by the heathen nations round about Judea. At the 
time the text was uttered by Elijah, very many, though 
not all of the people of the ten tribes who formed the 
kingdom of Israel, under the influence of their heathen 
neighbors, and greatly strengthened by the example of 
their own ungodly rulers, had forsaken the altars of 
Jehovah, and* bowed the knee before this false god. 
Yet they could not rest perfectly satisfied in their 
idolatr}^. The instructions they had received in former 
years, respecting the true God ; the influence of those 
among them who still worshipped Jehovah ; and more 
especially certain remarkable events which had recently 
occurred, or were then taking place, made them feel ill 
at ease in their service of Baal ; and conscience, at length 
aroused, warned them of their sin in forsaking the 
worship of the Grod of their fathers. They were unde- 
cided as to the course which they should pursue, and 
this was the occasion which called forth from Elijah 
the expostulation of the text : " How long halt ye 
between two opinions? If the Lord be Grod, follow 
him ; but if Baal, then follow him. 7 ' 

Indecision in religious matters, is an evil no less 
common now than in the days of Elijah ; and now, as 



THE GUILT AND DANCER OF INDECISION. 259 

then, involves those chargeable with it in guilt, and 
exposes them to ruin. In the spirit of the text, it is my 
wish to-day to expostulate with those who in this con- 
ation, are, like Israel of old, "halting between two 
opinions," and show them the unreasonableness, the sin, 
and the danger of their indecision. 

I. Let me address myself to those whose minds are 
not fully made up as to the truth and importance of 
religion — that religion of the heart which leads a sinner 
to devote himself to the service of Christ. To this class 
belong many of those who are commonly styled Infi- 
dels, and not a few who rank among Unitarians and 
Universalists. For the most part, such persons are 
very far from professing that firm and fearless confi- 
dence in the truth of their professed opinions, for which 
they wish others to give them credit. No man who 
hears the gospel, can be certain that it is not true : 
because no man can refute the evidence by which it is 
supported ; and, until that is done, all the objections 
urged against it, may prove groundless. The bare 
possibility that the gospel may prove to be the word of 
Almighty Grod, must make every reflecting person who 
neglects it, sometimes tremble, lest, when it is too late, 
he may discover its truth to his eternal cost Our 
everlasting destinies are too solemn, to be left in any 
uncertainty. Heaven and hell are matters too awfully 
momentous, to permit any one to reflect, without con- 
cern, on the bare possibility that he may at last be shut 
out of Heaven, and be shut up in hell. Only those 
whom ignorance or stupidity shield against conviction, 
and the unhappy men who by an obstinate rejection of 
truth and neglect of known duty, have provoked God 
to give them up to hardness of heart and blindness of 
mind — only such, have made the fatal attainment of 



260 SERMONS. 

living perfectly at ease in the neglect of religion, and 
wholly exempt from believing fears. 

With most, who affect to laugh at experimental re- 
ligion, as enthusiasm or folly, the case is quite different. 
They know that the Bible condemns the pursuits and 
pleasures which they love, and they wish it were not 
true ; or, vain of their understanding, they would seem 
wiser than other men— superior to vulgar prejudices; 
and would have us think that they have broken the 
shackles by which inferior minds are bound ; and thus 
they add hypocrisy to their sin, and glory in their 
shame. But though reason may be misled by passion 
or hoodwinked by vanity, there are moments when the 
truth forces itself upon their attention, when conscience 
starts from her slumbers, and " the word of God, the 
sword of the Spirit," makes its keen edge felt. It is 
because they are thus disturbed, that they seek so in- 
dustriously for objections against religion ; that they 
rail at its doctrines as irrational, at its precepts as severe, 
at its mysteries as incredible. Hence, too, their eager- 
ness to make proselytes to their own opinions, and their 
anxiety lest any of their companions should yield to 
the force of truth and leave them. They feel insecure ; 
they are not quite honest in their professed disregard of 
religion ; their loudest scoffs are sometimes mennt to 
hide their fears. Could you look into their hearts, you 
would find that they are not willing to die until they 
have changed their opinions and practices; or, at the 
least, not until they have examined the whole subject 
more thoroughly. Their true condition is that described 
in the text; they are u halting between two opinions. 7 ' 

Is there one of this class within the sound of my 
voice? Let me speak with you, my friend, on the 
unreasonableness of vour conduct. You admit, that it is 



THE GUILT AND DANGER OF INDECISION. 261 

possible, at the least, that the Bible may be true ; that 
it is possible that by neglecting the religion which it 
teaches, you may plunge yourself into endless sorrow, 
whilst by giving it your attention you may gain eternal 
life. You admit, that the time and attention which 
would be required to come to an intelligent decision 
respecting its claims, are as nothing when compared 
with the possible evils to be avoided and the possible 
blessings to be obtained. Is not, then, your present 
undecided course unreasonable? The subject is too 
interesting, too momentous to be left in any uncertainty. 
Where the soul is concerned, and when eternity is at 
stake, indecision is infatuation. How can you be at 
your ease, when, for aught you certainly know, every 
step you take leads to despair and death, and the 
blackness of darkness for ever ? 

Your indecision is criminal as well as unreasonable. 
If the religion of the Bible be true, it ought to control 
your whole conduct and character; and he whom it 
claims as its author has laid upon you an obligation, the 
propriety of which your own reason admits, to give it 
your first attention. In such circumstances, are you 
not guilty of a sin against God, in habitually treating 
religion as if it were false, when you are not sure but it 
may be true ? Are you not guilty of a sin against your 
neighbor, in leading him to think you at ease in your 
rejection of the claims of religion, when you well know 
that you are not so? Are you- not guilty of a sin 
against your own soul, when you make it more and 
more your interest to disbelieve what you are compelled 
to confess may be true, and what, if it be true, is to you 
all-important? Will you suffer jowy passions and 
your pride to interfere in the decision of this question 
in which the claims of God and your own eternal wel- 

12* 



262 SERMONS. 

fare are involved ? Can you reconcile your conscience 
to this state of uncertainty and indecision ? 

Your course is a dangerous one. While all your 
feelings and pursuits are hostile to religion, is it not 
dangerous for you to remain undecided respecting its 
truth ? Must not your heart become harder, and your 
sinful habits more inveterate, under the influence of 
your indecision ? God is the being in whose hands 
your breath is, and if, in the Bible, he has spoken to 
you, have you not reason to fear that the indifference, 
the contempt, with which you treat his message, may 
provoke him to cut you off at a stroke ; or to leave you 
to hardness of heart and blindness of mind, whilst you 
are thus neglecting to examine and decide this question, 
which your reason and conscience both declare ought 
to have been decided by you long ago ? Oh ! let this 
matter be settled: " How long halt ye between two 
opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if 
Baal, follow him." If the Bible be the word of God, 
make religion the first great business of your life ; let 
everything else go, until you have secured the great 
salvation which it reveals ; if it be not the word of God, 
make sure of this matter and be at rest. 

II. Let me address myself to those who profess to 
believe that the Bible is the word of God, and religion 
essential to their eternal happiness ; yet who are so 
absorbed in the business or pleasures of the world, that 
they pay little attention to it, and allow it little influ- 
ence over their temper and conduct. This class is 
numerous wherever the gospel is preached! They do 
not question its truth ; they speak of the Bible as the 
word of God ; they pay a decent respect to the solem- 
nities of public worship. Their reason, their conscience 
is on the side of truth, but, alas ! their hearts are given 
to the world. Ask such persons : "Is the Bible true ? n — 



THE GUILT AND DANGER OF INDECISION. 263 

they do not doubt it — Is religion important? — nothing 
more so — Do you mean to be a Christian before you 
die? — God forbid that I should die any other death 
than that of the righteous. Follow them now into the 
world, and observe their conduct. It contradicts this 
their profession at every point. They live as if there 
was no God, no Heaven, no hell ; as if all that is to be 
gained or lost, to be desired or shunned, to be hoped or 
feared, was here in this world. Could you examine 
their hearts, 3^011 would find them often alarmed by the 
warnings of conscience, sometimes startled, by the exhi- 
bitions of their character and conduct given in the word 
of God ; ever making good resolutions, and ever break- 
ing them ; lulling to rest their salutary fears, by saying 
to serious thoughts, " Go your way for this time ; when 
I have a convenient season I will call for you." The 
secret of this inconsistency is, that while reason ap- 
proves a life of piety, and conscience ranges itself on the 
side of God, their hearts are wedded to the world. Are 
not such persons acting a part most unreasonable, sin- 
ful, and dangerous ? 

You admit, dear hearer, that the interests of the soul 
and of eternity infinitely transcend all other interests. 
Why, then, do you not bend all your energies to the 
work of providing for them ? Why do you not seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness ? Do 
you say, it would interfere with other matters, and at 
present I have not time for it ? Are other matters as 
important as this ? Why was time given you by God ? 
Have you time to grow rich ? Have you time to enjoy 
the pleasures of the world ? Have you time to eat and 
drink and sleep ? And yet, no time to serve God ; no 
time to take care of your soul ; no time to provide for 
eternity ? Mistaken man, beware ! lest God find time 
for you to die, whilst you are yet unprepared for death, 



264 SERMONS. 

then must you find time to appear at his bar an unpar- 
doned sinner, and time to bemoan your folly in that 
world of woe, where is weeping and wailing and 
gnashing of teeth. 

You believe the Bible to be the word of God ; and as 
taught therein, you believe that you are fallen and de- 
praved, a child of disobedience and an enemy to God 
by wicked works. And yet, in this condition, you live 
at ease, and thus practically declare that you are will- 
ing to depart from God and be at enmity with him. 
You believe that if you go into eternity without a new 
heart, you are for ever undone ; and that you are liable 
to be cut down by death and hurried hence, at any 
moment ; and yet you seek not the regenerating influ- 
ences of the Spirit. You believe that the soul is of such 
value, that to provide for its salvation, the Eternal Son 
of God became a man of sorrows, lived a life of toil and 
self-denial, and died a death of shame and agony ; and 
yet this salvation, so precious in God's account, when 
freely offered you, you treat with cold neglect : — And 
all this, for what ? That you may live a little longer 
in sin — enjoy a few more of those pleasures which do 
not satisfy you, while they last, and perish in the using 
— or amass a little more of that wealth, or obtain a 
little more of that honor, which must all be left at the 
grave's mouth, if not sooner. Which is most glaring in 
a course like this ? Its folly ; its sin ; or its danger ? 

Compare — I should rather say contrast, for there is 
no comparing things so opposite — contrast your creed 
with your practice ; and tremble at your own inconsist- 
ency. "I believe in God the Father, Almighty, just 
and holy: — but I disobey his known commands, de- 
spise his threatenings, and brave his displeasure. I be- 
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of lost 
sinners: — but I account the salvation which he pur- 



THI QUILT AND DANGER OF INDFX'ISION. 2G5 

chased with hifl blood, not worth my seeking at the 
cost of present effort and self-denial ; I care not for his 
love, and I cast contempt upon his cross. I believe in 
the Holy Ghost, who alone regenerates and sanctifies 
the sinful children of men, and prepares them for Hea- 
ven : — but I do not seek his influences, and when he 
comes unsought, to lead me to repentance, I resist him, 
and grieve him to depart and leave me to my enjoy- 
ment of the world. I believe in a Heaven of perfect 
and everlasting purity and bliss: — but Hive in sin, and 
thus shut out my immortal soul from every prospect of 
participation in its joys. I believe in a Hell of endless 
and insufferable anguish : — but I love the paths that 
lead down to its dark and desolate abodes ; and though 
God invites, and Jesus beseeches, and the Holy Ghost 
strives, and Christians pray and labor for my salva- 
tion, I hasten to plunge into its flames ! I" 

How long shall your conviction of truth and your 
daily practice, your creed and your life, be thus at war 
one with the other? If the Lord be God, follow him, 
follow him fully ; if Jesus Christ be the Saviour, come 
to him, rely upon him ; if the Holy Ghost be the au- 
thor of spiritual, eternal life, seek and obey his influen- 
ces ; if you have a soul to be saved or lost, save it — 
oh ! save it, ere it be too late ; if there be a Hell, fly, 
fly, from the wrath to come ; and a Heaven, strive, ago- 
nize to enter into it. 

III. A third class to whom I must address the ex- 
postulation of the text, "How long halt ye between 
two opinions?" embraces those who have felt something 
of the power of the Gospel, enlightening their minds and 
impressing their hearts ; but who have never yet assum- 
ed, or do not now maintain, that firm and decided and 
consistent character which becomes a follower of Jesus. 
Many who have not made a public profession of reli- 



266 SERMONS. 

gion are of this class; and, it is painful to add, not a 
few of those who have. 

If there be one such in this congregation to-day, to 
him I address myself You know something of the 
worth of your soul, and feel something of the import- 
ance of holiness as a preparation for a happy life here 
as well as hereafter ; you know that you are a sinner, 
and need a Saviour, and that Christ, the Saviour of sin- 
ners, is able and willing to save to the uttermost all that 
come unto God by him. In so far as you cherish any 
hope of salvation, it is through his atoning blood and 
justifying righteousness ; and, on the whole, you think 
that it is your purpose to obey his commandments. 
But you are not quite willing to forsake all for Christ, 
and cheerfully deny yourselves and take up the cross 
and follow him. Perhaps you are immersed in busi- 
ness, and strict obedience to Christ would thwart some 
of your worldly plans : you could not attend to so 
large a business, or you could not manage it so profita- 
bly as you now do, if you should follow the Lord fully : 
or you are not quite willing to renounce all the plea- 
sures of the world, or to live in the practice of all 
known Christian duty. Or you fear the neglect, per- 
haps the scorn, you might incur from the ungodly, by 
maintaining on all occasions and in all places, a de- 
portment decidedly Christian. Hence you are waver- 
ing and irresolute. To-day, we find you with the 
Lord's people, entering into their plans~ sympathizing 
in their joys and sorrows, and seeming to esteem them 
the excellent of the earth ; to-morrow, we find you 
with the men of the world, and apparently, as much at 
home with the one class as with the other. Were such 
a thing possible, you would be glad to reconcile the 
service of God with that of mammon ; to have so much 
religion as is indispensable to carry you to Heaven, yet 



THE QUILT AND DANGER OF INDECISION. 2fi7 

not so much as to interfere with any worldly pursuit, 
not in its very nature sinful. 

At times, you seem much engaged in religion. If 
yon have not made a public profession, you seem ready 
to do it, — if you have made such profession, you seem 
Ived to live nearer to Grod and to walk more wor- 
thy of your vocation. Again you imbibe the spirit of 
the world, your devout feelings are all chilled, and you 
can scarcely be distinguished from those who make no 
pretensions to religion. To quiet conscience, you have 
many pleas in self-justification, perhaps true in them- 
selves, but not true as applied by you in y our own case. 
Are you professors of religion ; you say, it would injure 
religion to exhibit it on improper occasions ; we mus r , 
not be too rigid and too severe upon the maxims and 
practices of the world, lest gay and thoughtless people 
be disgusted, and religion suffer in their esteem ; it is 
best to be accommodating, as far as we can consistently 
with our obligations to Christ. All true enough in 
itself. Yet not true, in the sense which you put upon 
these declarations, when you urge them to excuse your 
sinful levity, your love of pleasure, your neglect of self- 
denial ; or to justify your un-Christian conformity to the 
world. Are you professors of religion; you excuse 
your acknowledged disobedience to the Saviour's dying 
command, by pleading the danger there is in making a 
false profession ; and your fear, lest if you should pro- 
fess, you might afterwards bring reproach upon the 
cause of Christ. Weighty considerations, certainly : — 
And yet, all this time, the true cause of your reluc- 
tance, though you may be self-deceived and uncon- 
scious of it, is the want of a decided, honest, and reso- 
lute purpose, to take up the cross and follow Christ. 

Faithfulness to Christ, my master, and faithfulness to 
your souls, my dear hearers, require me to remind you, 



208 SERMONS. 

that iii so far as you shrink from a fearless and open 
avowal of your love to Christ on every proper occasion ; 
just so far, are you guilty of being ashamed of him ; and 
he hath said, M Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and 
of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation ; 
of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he 
cometh in the glory of the Father, with the holy 
angels." And again — "Not every one that saith unto 
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Hea- 
ven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is 
in Heaven." 

Are all your hopes of salvation built on Christ alone? 
— How unreasonable, then, how sinful, how dangerous 
for you to neglect what he commands ! Can you an- 
swer to him for your disobedience to but one of his 
precepts? Eemember that amiable young man, of 
whom we read in the gospels, who lacked but one thing. 
Hath not God said, " The friendship of the world is 
enmity against God ;" and are you willing to retain its 
friendship at such a price ? Hath he not said, " They 
that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare, and 
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men 
in destruction and perdition ?" And are you willing 
to make a fortune at such a risk ? Hath he not said, 
" Kb man can serve two masters ; ye cannot serve God 
and mammon ?" Beware how you attempt it, lest you 
find to your cost, that his words are true. Beware, lest 
while you hesitate and temporize, death overtake you ; 
a great ransom will not then deliver you. 

But let me appeal to nobler principles than these. 
Consider his grace, " who though he was rich, yet for 
our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty 
might be made rich :" and then say, ought any con- 
sideration to deter you from honoring him by a holy 
life and conversation ? Think what reproach and con- 



THE GUILT AND DANGER OF INDECISION". 200 

tradiction of sinners he endured for you : and say, is it 
not most unreasonable, most ungrateful, to shrink from 
honoring him through fear of man? Oh, meditate on all 
his suffering; on his dying love; on all the glory he 
has purchased for them that trust in him: and say. if 
your most entire and cheerful consecration of yourselves 
to him, does not fall infinitely below his claims upon 
you ? Hesitate no longer. M If the Lord be God, fol- 
low him ;" follow him resolutely, faithfully, constantly, 
with your whole heart. So shall you secure his bless- 
ing here, and your end shall be peace, your immortal- 
eternal life. 
He who would be successful in any pursuit, must be 
decided in his course ; pre-eminently is this true in the 
great business of religion. The obstacles to a faithful 
following of Christ, are formidable : a deceitful heart, 
— appetites and passions that clamor for indulgence, — 
an alluring and ensnaring world, — a spiritual adversa- 
ry, powerful, crafty, vigilant, cruel. Would you reach 
the heavenly city ? you must set your faces thitherward 
as a flint. Would you win the heavenly prize ? there 
is a battle to be fought ere it can be yours. Time spent 
in indecision is lost. "While you hesitate, the tide of 
life is ebbing fast away ; death approaches ; eternity 
draws nigh ; the judge is even now at the door. The 
condition of all the dead is fixed for ever. Worlds can- 
not buy back one moment lost ; the mightiest ansrel 
cannot blot its record from the book out of which all 
must be judged. Oh! then, let us be up and doing, — 
let us work while the da; striving, agonizing to 

enter in at the strait gate, remembering that the night 
cometh in which no man can work. 



SERMON XIII. 

THE HAPPY DECISION. 

[Preached on resigning the pastoral charge of the First Presbyterian 
Church, Richmond, Virginia.] 

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this 
day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods whom your fathers served 
who were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites. 
in whose land ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will serve 
the Lord." — Joshua xxiv. 15. 

Thus a venerable servant of God addressed a people 
whom he loved, and who had long looked up to him as 
their guide and leader. God had made Joshua his 
honored instrument in subduing the enemies of Israel, 
and putting them into the peaceful possession of the 
land of promise. He was now a very aged man ; but 
his love to the people of his charge glowed with all its 
youthful fervor. Anticipating an early summons to 
enter his heavenly rest, he called the people together, 
and in the most plain, affectionate, and impressive man- 
ner, gave them his last counsel, admonition, and exhort- 
ation. He reminded them of all that God had done 
for them ; he briefly set forth the nature and extent of 
God's claims to their love and obedience ; and he laid 
before them the inevitable consequences of their regard- 
ing those claims or disregarding them. In the text, he 
draws the whole subject to a point ; he calls upon them 
to choose intelligently, deliberately, and finally, whether 
they will serve God or not. And he avows his own 
fixed determination, whatever they might do : as for 
him and his house, they would serve the Lord. 



THE HAPrY DECISION. 271 

The result of this affectionate and solemn appeal 
seems to have been very happy. The true servants of 
God were confirmed and established in their purpose of 
living to his glory ; many who had been hesitating were 
brought to a full and immediate decision ; many who 
had departed from God and lived in sin had their at- 
tention arrested, and turned to the Lord with purpose 
of heart. All were left without excuse or apology for 
their neglect of God, and the ruin of their souls. No 
doubt all who were present that day remember it now, 
and will remember it with ever increasing emotions of 
thankfulness and joy, or remorse and anguish, for ever. 

My dear hearers : I come to you to-day with this ap- 
peal of God's aged servant to his ancient people. For 
these ten years, it has been my duty and privilege to 
labor among you in the work of my Master ; preaching 
Christ, and him crucified, as the only and the all-suffi- 
cient Saviour of lost sinners ; teaching every man, and 
warning every man, in all wisdom, that I might present 
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. How diligently 
and faithfully I have labored, is not for me to say. I 
feel humbled, before God, that I have done so little. 
But the eye of my Master has been upon me, and 
there is a record, full and unerring, of all my labors 
among you, and the spirit and manner of their perform- 
ance ; and a day is coming when all shall be manifest. 

This morning I come to you, my impenitent hearers, 
to close up my stated ministry among you, and to be- 
seech, you once more to be reconciled to God. I know 
not how I can address you in terms more appropriate 
to such an occasion, than those of my text: "Choose 
ye this day whom ye will serve." 

No doubt the All- wise Creator and Sovereign of the 
universe has a plan and a purpose concerning the work 
of his hands. This plan and purpose must comprehend 



272 SERMONS. 

all worlds, embrace all beings, and reach from eternity. 
The Lord hath prepared his throne in the Heavens, and 
his kingdom ruleth over all. The infinite perfections 
of God secure this plan and purpose against the possi- 
bility of ultimate failure. All his boundless resources 
are pledged to execute his wise and holy plan ; in that 
plan his wisdom has assigned to us a place suited to our 
nature. We are his creatures, and we cannot escape 
from his control, or shake off our dependence on him. 
But he has made us free agents, and placed us in cir- 
cumstances to give full scope and employment to our 
free agency. Some things that relate to his glory in 
us, and to our present and future happiness, God has 
fixed beyond our control : we cannot change them ; 
he has set us bounds we cannot pass. In other mat- 
ters, he has left us to use our freedom ; he has given us 
power to discover wherein lie our duty and happiness, 
and to act as we please ; he sets before us life and death, 
a blessing and a curse, and bids us choose for ourselves. 

Let us call your attention to some things that are not 
left to 3 r our choice, and to some things that are, and 
then persuade you in these last to choose aright to-day. 

God has not left it to your choice whether you would 
exist or not. A few years ago you were not ; your soul 
had no existence ; your body was unorganized dust ; 
God chose to call you into being ; he formed your body 
of the dust ; he breathed into you the breath of life ; 
and here you are in his house, to-day, the workmanship 
of his hand. You cannot retire into your original no- 
thing ; the being he has given, you cannot lay aside. 

Nor has he left it to you to choose in what form you 
would exist. He might have made you a stock, or a 
stone, or a brute, or a mere thinking machine, incapa- 
ble of free agency, of obligation, of responsibility. But 
he has made j^ou a man, an agent, intelligent and free. 



THE HAPPY DECISION. 273 

You have capacities to know him, to love him, to sub- 
mit to his authority, to co-operate willingly with him in 
the wise and holy purposes of his government. Thus 
you are a subject of moral government ; you are under 
obligation to decide and to act aright towards God and 
your fellow creatures ; you are responsible to God who 
made you for the employment of your powers of volun- 
tary action. It is not left to your choice whether you 
will be a free agent, bound to obey God, and account- 
able to him for your actions and your motives. These 
points are fixed ; you may wish it were not so, but the 
wish is vain. You are free, under obligation, responsi- 
ble to God ; you cannot help it. But whether exist- 
ence shall be a blessing or a curse ; whether as a free 
agent you will obey God or rebel ; whether you will 
acknowledge your obligations to God, or trample upon 
them ; whether your accountableness will raise you to 
Heaven, or sink you to hell, is for you to decide. Choose 
ye this day. 

It is not for you to choose whether God shall give 
you a law, and require you to obey ; whether his all- 
seeing eye shall mark all your actions, words, and mo- 
tives ; or whether you will give account of yourself to 
him or not. These points are already settled. He has 
placed you under his law, which is holy, and just, and 
good, and to that law he has annexed eternal life as the 
reward of .obedience, and eternal death as the penalty 
of transgression. 

He is, and ever has been, about your path, and about 
your bed, and spieth out all your ways. No darkness, 
nor shadow of death, can hide from his eye, nor conceal 
from him one thought or feeling ; and he will bring 
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, 
whether it be good or evil. And with unerring truth 
and righteousness he will render to you according to 



274 SERMONS. 

your works. As to these points you have no choice. 
God has spoken, and who shall disannul it. For ever, 
Lord ! thy word is settled in heaven. 

But whether you will obey his law and live, or dis- 
obey and die ; whether in his presence, and under his 
eye, you will be wise and gain his favor, or play the 
fool and provoke his wrath : whether you will stand 
before his bar, and meet his irrevocable sentence as his 
friend or his enemy, you are to decide. Choose ye this 
day. 

It is not for you to say whether your short, uncertain 
life in this world shall be to you a term of moral pro- 
bation : whether you are now upon trial for Heaven, 
forming a character in which to appear before God, and 
filling up a course of conduct according to which you 
must be happy or miserable for ever. This point is 
fixed. The righteous Lord trieth the hearts of the sons 
of men. He has put you upon your probation, holds 
you there, and you cannot help it. Every day you are 
going forward to death and the judgment ; and every 
day the work of preparation for your eternal destiny is 
going on : every day, by every dispensation of God, 
every event and relation in life, every changing 
scene through which you pass, every action, word, and 
thought, you are forming a character ; you are filling 
up a measure : you are making up an account for or 
against you in the book of God. You are preparing 
for that last solemn interview with him. and ripening 
for your final sentence and your eternal doom. 

But whether your character be sinful or holy : whe- 
ther, day by day, you lay up treasure in Heaven, or 
treasure up wrath against the day of wrath ; whether, 
by patient continuance in well doing you seek for glory 
and eternal life, or being contentious and not obeying 
the truth, but obeying unrighteousness, you meet indig- 



HAPPY I 

nation and v. :br you I Choose ye there- 

fore this day. 

It is not for you who hear me to say, whether 
will be sinners against God — tra:: s of his holy 

osed to his righteous penalty — aliens from 
the love of God, unfit for his fa -ence and 

ene: our minds by wicked works. No, mj h 

: you have already sinned and are under condem- 
nation : already the love of God is not in you, but the 
carnal mind which is enmity against God. You caunot 
recall the pas a have done, you cannot undo. 

Go u will, do what you will, you are guilty 

and polluted ; and if your guilt is not pardoned and 
your pollution cleansed while God is holy, you must be 
an outcast from his pre- irhile he is just, you 

must meet his frown : nor is it for you to say whether, 
all be put under a dispensation of mer- 
and called to seek salvation from sin and death bv 
repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. In this matter God has already acted without 
consulting you. He hatL 1 the world as to give 

his only begotten Son. I: La : faithful nd wor- 

thy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the 
world to Innera He hath borne our sins in his 

own body. He hath received of the Father the pro- 
mise of the might be created anew. 
Having finished the work, having risen from the dead, 
and received all power in heaven and earth. He hath 
commanded his servants " Go preach repentance and 
His message of mercy has come 
;>u ; unto you is preached in his name, the forgive- 
him. all that believe are justified. 
To-day the call and the offer of God are to you, Ee- 
pent ye and be converted, and all be bio: 

X or is it for you to say, whether the love of God 



276 SERMONS. 

in the gift of his Son to save sinners; and the compas- 
sion of Christ in laying down his life for his enemies ; 
and the full and free provisions of the Gospel ; and all 
its gracious calls and offers to j^ou, shall stamp an im- 
pression on your character, whether they shall enter 
into your account at the judgment, and whether they 
shall tell upon your eternal destiny. No, my dear hear- 
ers, this matter is settled ; the Gospel we preach is unto 
God a sweet savor of Christ in all who hear it; in them 
that are saved and in them that perish ; a savor of 
life unto life, or of death unto death. You are already 
sinners, sinners under a dispensation of mercy ; as such 
you are now forming your characters, going forward to 
the judgment, ripening for the joys or sorrows of eter- 
nity. You cannot help it. You may deny it — or com- 
plain of it, — that will not alter it. In these things you 
have no choice. Whatever you believe, or desire, or 
do, all is fixed. Ic For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled 
in Heaven." 

But whether you will confess and forsake your sins 
and find mercy, or curse them and die ; whether you 
will follow after holiness, and be made meet to be par- 
takers of the inheritance of the saints in light, or live 
on in sin, and have your part with the fearful and un- 
believing, and abominable, and murderers, and the un- 
chaste, and all liars, in the lake that burnetii with fire 
and brimstone which is the second death ; whether 
you will obey the call of God, believe on the Lord Je- 
sus Christ, and yield yourself up to his service with a 
willing mind and an obedient heart, that you may 
have everlasting life; or put away from joxx. the offers 
of mercy, count yourself unworthy of eternal life, and, 
Avhile others are saved, behold and despise, and won- 
der and perish : this is for you to decide. Choose ye, 
therefore, this day whom ye will serve. 



THE HAPPY DECISION. 2 77 

The question is not, my dear hearers, whether you 
will ever give up the world ; but whether you will for- 
sake it now } and choose a better, the good part, or hold 
it fast till your soul is ruined, and it is torn from 
your reluctant grasp by unrelenting death, is for you to 
choose. It is not whether you will ever be concerned 
about your soul and convinced of sin, but whether you 
will now attend to the things that belong to your peace, 
and mourn over your sins with a godly sorrow — or put 
off these things, till the pains of hell take hold upon 
you, and you weep and wail among the damned. 

It is not whether you will ever believe the testimony 
of God concerning Jesus Christ, and salvation through 
his blood. That testimony is true, and a day is com- 
ing, when no sinner in the universe will doubt it. But 
whether you will now, with the heart believe unto 
righteousness and set to your seal that God is true, or 
for a few days make God a liar, till you pass into eter- 
nity, and truth pours upon your disembodied spirit, in 
a blaze of demonstration, that will wither and blast you 
for ever. It is not whether you will ever submit to 
Jesus Christ — for at the name of Jesus every knee shall 
bow and every tongue confess — but whether you must 
now touch the golden sceptre of his mercy, and bow to 
him upon a throne of grace or harden your hearts 
against him, till he dash you in pieces and there be 
none to deliver. My dear hearers, God is not a man 
that he should lie. Hath he said it and will he not do 
it, or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good ! 
He is of one mind, and who can turn him ? he is a 
rock ; his way is perfect. It is for you to choose 
whether you will humbly submit to his authority, and 
penitently seek his mercy, and cheerfully engage in 
his service, and devote yourself to the promotion of his 
cause, and have God upon your side, and all his immu- 

13 



278 SERMONS. 

table perfections pledged for your salvation, and rejoice 
in him as your rock — the strength of your heart and 
your portion for ever. 

Or whether you will set up your will, in opposition 
to his, seek your own gratification, in despite of his 
authority and his mercy, persevere in a course he has 
forbidden and upon which he frowns, and thus compel 
him to dash you in pieces, and cast you into hell. 

My dear fellow singers, ean you hesitate, whether you 
will serve God, or not ! Is there any room for indeci- 
sion ? any pretexts for delay ? can you harden yourself 
against him and prosper? What shall it profit you if 
you gain the whole world and lose your soul ? Oh, fear 
him who hath power to cast both soul and body in hell. 
Come, taste, and see the Lord is gracious. 

The case is so plain, one would think it impossible a 
rational being should hesitate a moment, yet you have 
hesitated. You are venturing upon the unequal con- 
test ; your purpose is ultimately to submit, to be upon 
the Lord T s side. But you delay ; day after day you lin- 
ger in the open field of sin and rebellion ; thus your 
habits of impenitence become fixed, your hearts grow 
hard, the obstacles to your salvation multiply and rise 
like walls of adamant, till death arrest you when jou 
think not of it, and you are hurried away, unpardoned, 
unsanctified, unprepared, to your last interview with 
God and your eternal doom. 

Joshua had witnessed the fatal consequences of delay 
in those who hardened their hearts in the wilderness^ 
and were cut oif in sin ; hence he says, u This day 
choose." And are delays less dangerous now ! How 
often, within the last ten years, have I seen the fatal 
consequences of procrastination in this city. How 
many of your own acquaintances have fallen victims to 
their own folly and presumption, Oh I be wise — ac- 



THE HAPPY DECISION. 279 

quaint now yourself with God. Now, kiss the Son lest 
• he be angry. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. 
Young men, children of the Church and the Sabbath. 
School — ye with whom God's Spirit has long striven — 
be wise ; choose ye this day. 

Soon I shall meet you before the judgment seat of 
Christ. Shall I see you there on the right hand, among 
those who have washed their robes white in the blood 
of the Lamb ? or shall I behold you far away on the left 
hand, among the despisers of mercy, and witness your 
despair, and hear your bitter cries and your unavailing 
prayers. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. 



SERMON XIV. 

t 

THE CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS— MEMBERS OF THE 
CHURCH* 

"But Jesus said, suffer little children, and forbid them not to come 
unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." — Matthew xix. 14. 

You probably recollect on what occasion these words 
were spoken. It was now near the close of the Saviour's 
ministry ; and the surprising power, wisdom, and good- 
ness he had displayed on so many occasions had brought 
his character into general notice. This circumstance, 
while it exasperated the rulers and teachers whom he 
boldly reproved, and who were determined at all events 
to reject his claims, had raised the expectations of the 
common people, and wrought in their minds a convic- 
tion that he was either the Messiah whose advent had 
been so often predicted, or, at least, a prophet of Jehovah, 
mighty in word and deed, whose favor would secure 
important benefit. Under this impression, parents 
brought to him their infant children, with a request 
that he would lay his hands on them and pray for them, 

* As a pastor Dr. A. gave much time to the instruction of the young. 
His spiritual children will ever remember his faithful Bible class 
instructions, his personal appeals, and fervent prayers. His min- 
istry in Richmond was blessed by large accessions of youth to his 
church. Some of them are still faithful laborers in the vineyard. 
Others are with him rejoicing in the fulness cf redeeming love. Mrs. 
Dr. Wilson of the South African Mission to the Zulus, was a subject of 
converting grace during a revival. At thirteen years of age she joy- 
fully devoted herself to the service of Christ, and at twenty, said with 
her dying breath, " I do not regret that I have come to this dark 
land." 



THE CHILDREN OF BEMEVER9. 281 

or bless them as Jacob had blessed the two sons of 
Joseph, and as those who were eminent for their wisdom 
and piety frequently offered their prayers, for such, as 
were younger than themselves. The disciples when 
they heard this application to their Master, discouraged 
it, and found fault with those who made it, either think- 
ing it would be troublesome to one who was so con- 
stantly occupied in teaching the people and healing their 
diseases, or regarding such attention to infants as un- 
suitable to the dignity of his character, and the import- 
ance of his work. With their ill-timed interference, 
their Master waa much displeased, and said, Suffer little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of Heaven. And he laid his hands 
on them, and blessing them, departed thence. It is wor- 
thy of remark here, that these were infant children, for 
such is the primary and appropriate meaning of the 
word used by the Evangelists in relating the event. We 
are told by Mark, that the Saviour took them up in his 
arms. There is no reason to suppose that they were 
diseased, and brought to him to be healed, for no men- 
tion is made of this, and if it had been so, the disciples 
would not have forbidden the parents to bring them to 
their Master, nor w r ould he have given as his reason for 
receiving them, that of such was the kingdom of Hea- 
ven, any more than he did when he healed others. It 
is specially to this reason which our Lord assigned for 
his conduct on this occasion that I wish to direct your 
attention. It is as if he had said, you do wrong to 
forbid their parents to bring their infant offspring to 
me ; I approve of their conduct ; I will grant their re- 
quest ; for such belong to that spiritual kingdom which 
I came to establish. 

If this view of the text be correct, then it teaches 
this general truth, that the infant children of members of 



282 SERMONS. 

the church of Christ are also members of the church. I shall 
undertake to sustain this position, and to derive from 
it a number of inferences. The public and solemn 
recognition of the membership of children, which you 
have just witnessed, renders this an appropriate subject 
of our meditations at this time, and I fear that neither 
the subject itself is as well understood among us as it 
should be ; nor do the duties which grow out of it 
receive that diligent attention which they deserve. For 
these reasons I request your attention to it, disclaiming 
all intention of attacking the principles or wounding 
the feelings of our brethren, whose views of this sub- 
ject differ from our order. 

In confirmation of the assertion that the infant chil- 
dren of church members are also members of the church, 
I remark, it is not denied that they were infant child- 
ren, nor that their parents who brought them to Christ 
were members of the Jewish church, nor that that 
church was, until the establishment of Christianity, the 
church of God. What then does our Saviour mean, 
when he says of these infant children of church mem- 
bers, that of such are the kingdom of Heaven? The 
answer to this question depends upon the meaning of 
the phrase, the kingdom of Heaven. Xow, this phrase, 
in the New Testament, always signifies either the work 
of divine grace on the hearts of believers, or else the 
visible church of our Lord Jesus Christ. This last is 
by far the most common meaning of the phrase. In this 
sense, it sometimes comprehends the church triumph- 
ant in Heaven, as well as the church militant on earth. 
Most commonly, it is confined to the visible church of 
Christ on earth, and alludes to the prophecy of Daniel 
concerning the times of the Messiah, " In those days 
shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom." This is 
its meaning in all those texts, when it is said the king- 



THE CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS. 283 

dom of Heaven is at hand, and where the kingdom of 
Heaven is compared to a net cast into the sea ; to a field 
where wheat and tares grow together until the harvest; 
to a grain of mustard seed, small at first, but growing 
into a great plant ; to leaven hid in three measures of 
JL Such must be its meaning here. For it cannot 
mean a work of grace in the heart, otherwise these child- 
ren, and all such, are regenerate; and if it means that 
the church in Heaven is composed of such, then much 
more do they belong to the church. Xor can it be pro- 
perly objected to this, that our Lord meant to teach, not 
that such little children, as were brought to him, were 
members of his church, but that adults of a childlike 
temper and spirit were. Both the connexion and the 
language are unfavorable to this interpretation. It is, 
indeed, said, in the preceding chapter, except ye be 
converted and become as little children, ye shall not 
enter into the kingdom of Heaven ; but there, the w r ord 
used to express this similarity is altogether different 
from that which is here employed. Our text, then, 
fairly interpreted, teaches that these little children, and 
all like iliem, are members of the visible church. The 
same truth is taught, if I do not mistake, in other por- 
tions of the w r ord of God. The first epistle to the- Co- 
rinthians was written, partly in answer to several ques- 
tions proposed by that church to the apostle for his 
decision. One of these grew out of the peculiar state 
of things at the first promulgation of the Gospel. Among 
the early conversions to the faith it often happened that 
the Gospel was believed in by a woman and rejected by 
her husband, or received by a man and rejected by his 
wife. Under the old dispensation, such church mem- 
bers as were married to idolatrous partners, were required 
to separate from them. A question arose as to the duty 
of the believing partners ; in the case stated above, ought 



284 SERMONS. 

such an one to live with an unbeliever? This question 
the apostle answers in the affirmative, and adds, For 
the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and 
the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else 
were your children unclean, but now are they holy. 
What does he mean when he says, your children are 
holy ? Only two meanings are ever attached to this 
word in the Scriptures. The one is moral, the other 
ceremonial. 

Persons are said to be holy in the first sense, when 
their hearts are renewed and purified by the Spirit of 
God. They are said to be holy ceremonially, when 
they belong to the visible church, and have a right to 
partake in its ordinances, and are externally and pro- 
fessedly devoted to God. In this sense the Jews, and 
all proselytes to their religion, are frequently called a 
holy people in the Old Testament, and all who belong 
to the visible church, whether regenerated by the Spirit 
of God or not, are styled holy by the apostle Paul, 
when comparing the visible church to an olive tree, 
he says: "If the root be holy, so are the branches." 
Now it is not pretended by any, that all children born 
of believing parents are holy ; yet the apostle says, " if 
only one of the parents is a believer, the children are 
holy. 77 This must therefore mean that they are ceremo- 
nially holy ; that they stand in a covenant relation to 
God, and are fit persons to be admitted to his ordinances. 
The only objection to this interpretation is, that accord- 
ing to the same reasoning the unbelieving parent is also 
made a member of the church by the believing partner, 
For the apostle asserts that the unbelieving husband is 
sanctified by the wife, as well as that the children are 
holy. If, therefore, you admit the child to gospel or- 
dinances because it is holy, as the child of a believing 
parent, you ought, for the same reason, to admit the 



THE CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS. 285 

unbelieving partner, who is sanctified by the believer. 
But this you refuse to do ; therefore, as the argument 
does not prove the membership of the unbelieving pa- 
rent, it cannot prove that of the child. In answer to 
this objection, I remark, it takes for granted that the 
sanctiiication of the husband by the wife, is precisely 
of the same extent, and produces the same effects, as 
the holiness inherited by the children from a believing 
parent. This cannot be admitted ; because God never 
founded the privilege of admission to his church upon 
the mere fact of intermarriage with his people, but he 
did expressly found a right to that privilege upon the 
fact of being born of them, as was distinctly declared 
when the church was first formed in the family of Abra- 
ham, and constantly acted upon from that time. Again, 
by a positive statute, adults are not to be admitted to 
the church without a profession of faith. Consequent- 
ly, Paul's doctrine here must be restricted by that spe- 
cial and express command. But with respect to infants 
no such restriction exists. The unbelieving husband is 
sanctified to a certain extent by his believing wife, for 
so the apostle asserts, but not to such an extent as to 
render him a member of the church, for that is express- 
ly forbidden by the command already quoted. The 
membership of infants does not contravene this com- 
mand. Therefore the holiness, which is here ascribed to 
infants, does involve their membership, though that 
which is ascribed to the unbelieving parent does not in- 
volve his. 

To this conclusion the very words of the text lead us. 
The saoctification of the unbelieving parent here spoken 
of, evidently regards him, not for his own sake, but on 
account of his believing partner, and so far as the cove- 
nant privileges of the children are concerned. It was 
admitted that if both parents were believers, their child- 

13* 



286 SERMONS. 

ren were holy. If both were unbelievers, their children 
were ceremonially unclean. But what was the situation 
of the children when one parent was a believer, and the 
other an unbeliever ? Were they to be esteemed holy 
on account of the believing parent, or unholy on ac- 
count of the unbelieving one ? This question the 
apostle decides by saying, that for the purpose of con- 
veying to their infants the privilege of being within 
the visible church, the unbelieving husband is sanctified 
by the wife, and the unbelieving wife by the husband. 
That instead of the interest which the child has in the 
covenant by the faith of one parent being made void 
by the unbelief of the other, the very fact of being 
married to a believer shall so far control the effect of 
unbelief, shall so far consecrate the infidel party, that 
their children shall be members of the church. Now, 
saith he, they are holy. Here, then, is a confirmation 
of the doctrine deduced from the text. 

I will only detain you, to offer in farther confirma- 
tion of this truth, the original constitution of the church 
in the family of Abraham, and the testimony of the 
Scriptures that this church is substantially the same in 
every age. In the seventeenth chapter of Genesis, we 
have recorded the covenant made with Abraham, as the 
Father of the faithful, by which the visible church was 
formed in his family. This we are carefully to distin- 
guish from the promises made to Abraham as an indi- 
vidual, that he should be saved ; that the Saviour should 
descend from him, and that the land of Canaan should 
be given to his posterity. These were distinct promises, 
made many years before. In the same manner we must 
not confound this with a transaction so entirely distinct 
from it, as the national covenant made with the child- 
ren of Israel at the giving of the ceremonial law, four 
hundred years later. 



THE CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS. 28*7 

By examining this original charter of the Church 
Gf God, we find that infants were expressly included 
in it as members, and that their membership was by 
divine command recognised, and that in precisely the 
Game manner as that of adults. Now, the Scriptures 
h us that the very same church which was then 
formed, exists at this day, and shall continue to the 
end of the world. To quote only one passage out of 
many, let us hear the apostle Paul, speaking of the 
rejection of the Jews from the church on account of 
unbelief, of the introduction of the Gentiles in their 
stead, and of their future restoration. Romans xi. 17-24, 
he tells the Gentiles they were by nature a a wild olive 
tree," but that the Jews were " the good olive tree." 
From this good olive tree the Jews were broken off, 
and into it the Gentiles were grafted as scions into a 
stock not their own. This cannot refer to their natural 
state as sinners before God, for in this there was no 
difference ; nor can it refer to their state as sinners 
saved by grace, for from such a state, men are not 
broken off, nor was this the condition of the Jews as a 
people. It must then refer to their state as a church, 
to their public relation to God, and their privileges as 
professedly his people. The Jews were not broken off 
from the rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the Mosaic 
law, nor were the Gentiles introduced into them, for 
these were already abolished, when the apostle wrote. 
The olive tree, then, from which the Jews were broken, 
and into which the Gentiles were grafted, must mean 
the visible church, and the privileges of the covenant 
made with Abraham, who is so often called the father 
of believing Gentiles, as well as Jews. Now, mark the 
apostle's language. The olive tree is not cut up by the 
roots or destroyed, and a new one planted, but some of 
its branches are broken off, and in their place others 



288 SERMONS. 

are inserted, not into another tree but into the very 
same. The New Testament church is the very same 
to which the Jews belonged. The Jews are cast out of 
it for their unbelief. The Gentiles occupy their place, 
and succeed to all their privileges. One of these, a 
principal one, was the membership of their infants. 
This privilege has never been revoked. Therefore the 
children of Gentile believers are members of the church 
of God. Again, the apostle speaks thus of the future 
restoration of the Jews : "If they abide not in unbelief, 
they shall be grafted in again." Now, if thou wert cut 
out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert 
grafted into the good olive, how much more shall these, 
which be the natural branches, be grafted into their 
own olive tree. They shall be grafted in again ; grafted 
into what ? Into their own olive tree. Then their own 
tree must be preserved. But when they come in, the 
Gentiles will not be broken off. Both will flourish 
together; will belong to the same church; will be 
branches of the same olive tree, and thus will be the 
same from which the Jews were once broken off. Their 
own olive tree, saith the apostle. Could any language 
express more strongly the truth, that the church, though 
its members are changed and its privileges enlarged, is 
in every age the same church. But the Jews before 
their rejection were with their children members of the 
church. Therefore, when they are reinstated, or grafted 
in again, their children also must be members of the 
church. Otherwise the promise fails. But when they 
are thus reinstated, they will come into the church with 
the Gentiles. They will share in the same privileges 
which we now possess. The same truth is taught by 
all those texts, and they are numerous, which speak of 
Gentile believers as the childen of Abraham, as inherit- 
ing the promises made to him, and as confirming, 



THE CHILDREN OF RELIEVERS. 289 

by the privileges and blessings they enjoy, the faith- 
fulness of that covenant, " Thou shalt be a Father of 
many nations, and I will establish my covenant between 
me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their genera- 
tions, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee 
and to thy seed after thee, a covenant made sure," saith 
the apostle, to that seed, which is of the faith of Abra- 
ham who is the Father of as all. In a word, the doctrine 
of the text is confirmed by all those passages which 
teach us that the church of God in all ages, and under 
all the changes of form through which it passes, brings 
to those who belong to it the same privileges and bless- 
ings with a distinctness and a fulness constantly increas- 
ing. If it is the same church substantially, i.e., if it 
rests on the same promises, has the same head, and 
secures the same eternal blessings to its living members ; 
then, however important the changes which may have 
taken place, those changes are all expressly mentioned, 
and whatever has not been thus altered remains as 
before. If any contend that the membership of infants 
was taken away, they are bound to point us to a " Thus 
saith the Lord," to support the assertion. 

But if the children of believers are members of the 
church of Christ, then important consequences follow 
from this truth. The first inference which I shall notice 
is this : if they are church members, then they ought 
to be recognised as such, by that rite which is the 
appointed external mark of membership. Thus they 
were always recognised, by Divine command, from the 
daj-s of Abraham to the coming of Christ. At that 
time, a change was made in the manner of dispensing 
the same blessing, of the same covenant, and a corres- 
ponding change was made, in the external seal of the 
covenant. Baptism came into the place of circumcision. 
This is not mere assertion. It is evidently thus of 



290 SERMONS. 

adults. Both put a mark upon their subjects as belong- 
ing to that society which God hath set apart for himself. 
Both signify and seal justification by faith, even the 
pardon of sin, the righteousness of Christ. Both repre- 
sent and are means of renovation and purity of heart, 
by the spirit of Christ. The only difference between 
them, as seals of the covenant, relates to that more 
enlarged and spiritual dispensation of the blessings of 
the covenant, under which baptism is its seal. This 
the apostle explains when speaking of being baptized 
into Christ. He says : " There is neither Jew nor 
Greek, there is neither male nor female, there is neither 
bond nor free." Thus positively annulling, in spiritual 
things, all distinction arising from difference of nation, 
sex, or condition. And this substitution of baptism, in 
the place of circumcision, which may be so strongly 
argued from their similarity of meaning and use, is 
further confirmed by the fact that baptism holds pre- 
cisely the same relation to circumcision which the Lord's 
supper holds to sacrifice, especially the passover. Child- 
ren are then to be baptized, for the very same reason 
that they were circumcised before the coming of Christ : 
because they are members of the church, and this is the 
prescribed mark by which their membership is to be 
recognised. 

A second inference from the truths established is : if 
children of believing parents are members of the church, 
then it is the duty of the Church to watch over them, 
to instruct them, and, in a word, to extend to them a 
discipline suited to their condition and their age. This 
must be done, in a great measure, indirectly, and through 
their parents, from whom their membership is derived, 
and by whom they are presented to receive the seal of 
that membership. Important and responsible, indeed, 
are their duties in this respect. To a faithful perform- 



THE CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS. 291 

ance of these duties, they pledge themselves, in the 
most solemn manner, when they present their children 
for baptism. If they are faithful, they have every en- 
couragement to expect a blessing. The promises are to 
them and to their children. If they neglect their duty, 
if they do not train up their children, who are thus con- 
secrated to God, in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord, fearful will be their account ! In this arduous 
work they are entitled to all the assistance and encou- 
ragement which the church can give ; especially they 
are entitled to its prayers, and to the aid and co-opera- 
tion of its pastors and elders. If this subject were felt 
as it should be in our churches — if Christian parents, 
church members, and church officers, would arise to the 
diligent, faithful, and prayerful discharge of their duty 
towards those who have in infancy been consecrated to 
God, by having the seal of his covenant put upon them, 
— we should see the blessed effects of this Divine ordi- 
nance in the saving conversion of multitudes, who are 
now left to grow up lamentably ignorant of Him in 
whose holy name they have been baptized. Yes, 
Christian parents, you are under the most sacred obli- 
gations to train up for God those who have, by their 
relation to you, been born within the pale of the visi- 
ble church, and .for whom you have claimed a recogni- 
tion as members of the church. Great is your encou- 
ragement to labor and pray for their salvation. The 
promise is to you and to your children ; plead on their 
behalf with your covenant-keeping God. Be mindful 
of those solemn vows which you have taken upon you 
when you presented them for baptism. Those vows 
are registered in Heaven, and to be remembered at the 
bar of God. If your Heavenly Father sees fit to re- 
move your dear children in infancy, recollect that you 
gave them to him, and he does but take what you con- 



292 SERMONS. 

secrated to him. If he removes you from them, leave 
them in his hands. Are they not his? Will he not 
take care of his own ? If he spares them to you, and 
you to them, always look upon them as devoted to him. 
Teach them their obligations and their mercies; let 
them see that their salvation is the most ardent desire 
of your hearts. Oh ! if they should perish at last, how 
fearful must be their doom. If they perish through 
your unfaithfulness, how will you answer when God 
inquires for those lambs he committed to your care ! 
How will you meet them at his bar ! Make it your 
daily prayer, your daily effort, to persuade them joy- 
fully to ratify, by their own act ; what you did for them 
ere they were capable of acting for themselves. Christ 
invites you to bring them to him. Watch over them ; 
instruct them ; and may you at last be able to say with 
joy to your Father and theirs, " Here are we and those 
whom thou hast given us." 

A third inference from the subject we have consider- 
ed is this : the children of members of the church who 
have been dedicated to God in infancy, are under pecu- 
liar obligations to devote themselves to his service ; as 
such are connected with the church only through their 
parents, when thej come to act for themselves their 
membership must be confirmed by their own voluntary 
dedication of themselves to God, or it ceases, of course, 
and they wilfully go out from the company of the peo- 
ple of God, and forfeit the privileges of their birth- 
right. How fearful is this ! It is not simple rebellion 
against God, like the sin of those who were never within 
his church. It is the rupture of the most sacred ties ; 
it is apostasy ; it is like the sin of Esau, who sold his 
birthright for a morsel. Let not such plead, these are 
not obligations of our own choosing, therefore we are 
not bound by them. True, you did not choose them 



THE CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS. 293 

for yourselves ; God in his mercy chose them for you, 
before you knew good from evil. But are they for that 
reason less binding? You did not choose to be born 
in a Christian land, to be the children of pious parents, 
to be instructed and prayed for in your childhood. 
God chose thus for you also. But do they not lay you 
under the most sacred obligations ? Will he not call 
you to account for your improvement of them ? You 
cannot alter any of these things. They are all mercies 
— rich mercies. If improved aright, they will lead to 
immortal blessings. So is your membership in the 
church as the children of God's people. Come then, 
ratif} r it by your own act ; give your hearts to God, to 
your God, to your fathers' God. Oh ! how far have ye 
already departed from him. But hark ! he addresses 
you : " Beturn, ye backsliding children, and I will heal 
your backsliding ; I will receive you graciously ; I will 
love you freely." Come, confess your Saviour before 
men, and he will confess you before the angels of God. 
He is gracious and compassionate ; his yoke is easy and 
his burden light. Oh ! do not renounce your alle- 
giance to the Lord ; do not disown the Prince of Peace ; 
do not disclaim your fathers' God; do not forswear 
your consecration to his service ; do not abjure those 
solemn vows which were made for you, and over you, 
when you were presented to him in the sanctuary, when 
his blessed name was called upon you, and you were 
sprinkled with the symbol of that blood which cleans- 
eth from all sin. You cannot sin as others do ; your 
neglect of Christ is not simple unbelief — it is apostasy 
from him. Every hour you continue in it, is an hour 
of contempt for his dying love, for his great salvation. 
How will your hearts endure, or your hands be strong, 
when he shall reckon with you for not owning him, for 
counting the blood of his covenant an unholy thing. 



294 6ERMOX8. 

He will reckon with you ; you are his by sacred ties ; 
you cannot shake off j^our obligations, or blot out those 
solemn vows which are registered in Heaven. No : 
you may destroy yourselves for ever; but you cannot 
shake off your obligations. Oh! come, then, receive 
the Lord Christ in truth, take your place at his table, 
and walk in the way of his commandments. 



SEEMON XV. 
TO DIE IS GAIN. 

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." — Philippians i. 21. 

This brief sentence presents at once the character and 
the reward of the genuine disciple of Jesus. It is an 
epitome of the believer's arduous journey, and of its 
triumphant termination. Paul, once a persecutor, now 
an apostle of Jesus Christ, and a prisoner in bonds for 
the love he bore to him, speaks here from his own 
experience. Life and death, time and eternity, earth 
and heaven, pass before us as they were present to his 
mind while he wrote, and under the aspect they habitu- 
ally assumed while he contemplated them. The language 
he here uses concerning himself he applies substantially 
to all believers, in his letter to the Eomans. " For none 
of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and 
whether we die, we die unto the Lord ; whether we live 
therefore or die, we are the Lord's." This is our war- 
rant for saying that though in the text he speaks of 
himself, yet he does not describe anything peculiar to 
himself, but draws the outline of Christian experience, 
as it is common to all genuine believers. As, therefore, 
the text presents the character and hope of the true 
disciple of Christ, it contains a topic, whose discussion 
can scarcely be unseasonable at any time, and one 
peculiarly appropriate to an occasion like the present, 
designed especially to lead our minds to a suitable 
recollection and improvement of the recent removal 



296 BERMONS. 

from among us of one who had long held a place among 
the professed followers of Jesus, and whose life, in its 
progress, and at its close, bore testimony to the sincerity 
of her profession. 

"To me to live is Christ." The expression is brief 
and idiomatical, and though somewhat obscure, is lively 
and fall of energy. It reminds one of the language of 
the same writer, on other occasions. " Now I live, yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life I now live in 
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." Again, 
11 Your life is hid with Christ in God." " When Christ 
who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with 
him in glory." So Jesus said, " I am the way and the 
truth and the life. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." As 
the living Father sent me and I live by the Father, so 
he that eateth me, even he shall believe by me. To 
the believer, to live is Christ, because Christ is the 
author, and the supporter of spiritual and everlasting 
life in his soul. By nature all men are dead in tres- 
passes and sins. They are dead, because under the 
condemning sentence of that law which declares, " The 
soul that sinneth, it shall die ;" and because they are 
destitute of all true holiness, of all genuine love to the 
character, the government, the service, and the worship 
of God, of all relish for communion w r ith him, and for 
the holy joys of his immediate presence. This is the 
testimony of the Bible concerning every man ; and 
every genuine disciple of Christ has been experiment- 
ally taught the truth of this testimony, in its application 
to himself, by the power of the Holy Ghost convincing 
him of sin, and constraining him to ask with the earn- 
estness of one who feels himself lost, what must I do to 
be saved ? The same Almighty Spirit has guided him 
to Jesus Christ, who came to seek and to save that 



TO DIE IS GAIN. 297 

which was lost. In his obedience and sufferings, he 
sees a perfect atonement for sin, and a way opened for 
the extension of mercy to sinners, consistently with the 
holiness and justice of God. In the promise of the 
Spirit to enlighten, and renew, and purify all that 
believe, he beholds a provision adequate to restore him 
to the knowledge, the law, and the likeness of God ; to 
qualify him for his service, and for communion with 
him here, and for the everlasting joys of his presence 
beyond the grave. Feeling his own lost condition ; 
persuaded of the truth of the record God hath given 
us of his Son ; cordially approving of the gospel method 
of salvation, and encouraged by the love of Christ, in 
dying for sinners, and by the gracious invitations he 
addresses to them, he renounces every other hope, and 
casts himself upon the sovereign, unmerited mercy of 
God in Christ. He is accepted in the beloved, and his 
acceptance is confirmed to him by the influences of the 
Spirit shedding abroad the love of God in his heart, 
and giving him joy and peace in believing. He has 
redemption through the blood of Christ, even the for- 
giveness of sins according to the riches of his grace ; and 
being delivered from the power of darkness, and trans- 
lated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, he is made 
meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in 
light. By faith he is vitally united to Christ, as the 
branch is united to the vine, or as the members are 
united to the body, so that Christ's spirit dwells in him, 
and he derives wisdom, strength, and consolation from 
him. 

Thus Christ is the author of spiritual life to every 
believer, as by his righteousness they are freed from 
condemnation, and justified in the sight of God ; and by 
his Spirit, they are created anew in righteousness and 
true holiness, and qualified for the love, the worship, 



298 SERMONS. 

and the enjoyment of God, and that life which flows 
from Christ as its source into the believer's soul, is sus- 
tained and supported by him. He lives a life of faith, 
on the Son of God. Daily he looks to him, and relies 
upon him for pardon, holiness, and consolation. Christ, 
in his person, character, offices, and work, as he is set 
forth in his word and ordinances, is that spiritual food ; 
that bread of life, by which his soul is fed ; his faith 
invigorated ; his penitence and humility deepened ; his 
love increased ; his zeal animated and purified ; 
his hope confirmed and brightened ; and he is 
strengthened to labor without fainting, to suffer pa- 
tiently, to overcome when he is tempted, and to 
hold fast his profession and his confidence to the end. 
His spiritual union to the Saviour, and communion 
with him, is the constant support of that holy love 
which reigns in his heart, governs his life, and forms 
and animates his character. As the branch derives its 
nourishment and support from the vine, so does he from 
Christ. Without Christ, separated from him, cut off 
from access to him in his ordinances, and from those 
supplies of grace w r hich he imparts, he can do nothing. 
Of himself, he is not sufficient so much as to think a 
good thought ; but, through Christ strengthening him, 
he can do all things. Christ liveth in him ; and the life 
he now lives in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of 
God. Thus, to live is Christ to the believer; because 
his spiritual life flows from Christ as its fountain, and by 
him it is supported and he is nourished unto everlast- 
ing life. The grace and spirit of Christ is, in all his 
people, a well of living water springing up unto life 
eternal. 

But, secondly, to live is Christ, because Christ is the 
end and object of the believer's life ; as one may say of 
the sensualist, to live is to gratify his appetites and 



TO DIE IS GAIN. 299 

passions ; of a covetous man to live, is to amass wealth ; 
of the votary of ambition to live, is to acquire power 
and honor ; so, of the apostle, to live was to glorify 
Christ ; and of every believer, to live is Christ ; 
because the great end which he has in view, the 
prize for which he contends, the mark towards which 
he presses onward, the goal at which he aims is 
to honor Christ, by knowing him better; becoming 
more like him, and enjoying more intimate commu- 
nion with him ; and by promoting among his fellow 
men, that cause for which Christ died, that kingdom 
over which he reigns, and in whose triumph over every 
opposing interest he will be glorified and rejoice for 
ever. The context shows that this is the exact mean- 
ing of the expression here. The apostle remarks that, 
for himself, it would be far better to depart, and be 
with Christ ; and he had a desire to do so. But, if his 
life were prolonged, he would thus have an opportuni- 
ty of doing more for the honor of Christ, in preaching 
that gospel by which saints were edified and comforted, 
and sinners converted and saved ; so that he was at a 
loss which to prefer, whether to die and be with Christ, 
which would be unspeakable gain, or to live and labor 
for the honor of his Saviour, in the salvation of sin- 
ners, which was more needful for those to whom he 
wrote. In this sense, to live is Christ to every 
believer, and I am acquainted with no better proof 
that one is born of God, no surer test of the genuine- 
ness of penitence and faith, and the stability of hope, 
than this : to honor Christ, by promoting in himself, 
and in his fellow creatures, that work of reconciliation 
to God, of renovation after his image, and restoration 
to his favor, for which Christ labored and suffered, for 
which, having assumed our nature, he lived, and died, 
and rose, and reigns. This is the great object for which 



300 SERMONS. 

every believer lives ; this is habitually before his mind 
as the one thing needful, the chief end of his existence, 
the pole-star that guides him over this dark and trou- 
bled ocean on which he is borne to the shores of eter- 
nity. When he loses sight of this he is alarmed, for he 
knows himself in danger ; he is humbled and sorrow- 
ful, for he is conscious of guilt. Here his desires, his 
hopes, his affections, centre and terminate ; hither tends 
every motion of the Spirit of God upon his soul, every 
active principle of his renewed nature. For this he 
longs, he prays, he labors, he suffers, he denies himself, 
he forgets the things that are behind ; and through in- 
firmities, temptation, toil, weariness, sorrows, bereave- 
ments, and death itself, he presses towards this mark as 
the prize of his high calling. 

Thus did the apostle ; thus did every one of his com- 
panions in labors and tribulation, for that kingdom of 
God of which they were accounted worthy; thus did that 
great company of martyrs who counted not their lives 
dear, that they might finish their course with joy ; thus 
did that great cloud of witnesses, who, having overcome 
by the blood of the Lamb, have gone to receive the 
end of their faith, the salvation of their souls ; thus do 
all who are partakers of their faith, and imbued with 
their spirit, and shall at last share their reward The 
glory of Christ in his own salvation, and in that of his 
fellow sinners, is the object which every believer pur- 
sues. In this pursuit love to Christ is his animating 
motive, the law of Christ is his rule, the grace of Christ 
is his fountain of wisdom and strength, and conformity 
to the example of Christ, and communion with him in 
his ordinances, are the means. To this object he feels 
himself bound by every motive that can exert an influ- 
ence upon him as an intelligent, accountable, and im- 
mortal being. He sees in it a perfect excellence and 



TO DDC is (, \IN. 301 

beauty that command his highest esteem and approba- 
tion, and he learns from the volume of revelation that 
all holy beings view it with like emotions ; yea, that the 
blessed God himself regards it with perfect complacency 
as the grand object of his moral government, for whose 
attainment he has put forth all those manifestations of 
his power, wisdom, holiness, truth, and love, which shine 
in the plan of salvation, fill Heaven, with, admiration 
and joy, and will be the theme of everlasting songs. 
He regards this as the end for which he has been creat- 
ed, preserved, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, adopt- 
ed into the family of God, sealed to the day of redemp- 
tion, and crowned with countless blessings, temporal and 
spiritual ; and every conviction of duty, every feeling 
of gratitude, every tie that binds his allegiance to the 
throne of a sin-pardoning God, bind him to seek the 
honor of Christ as the great end of life. He beholds 
the present happiness and the eternal well-being of 
himself and of all his fellow men inseparably connect- 
ed with the honor of Christ, in the accomplishment of 
those holy purposes for which he died. He sees the 
everlasting interests of his own immortal soul, and of 
the immortal souls of his fellow men, bound up in this 
object, identified with it; and it is as dear to him as his 
own happiness and that of his fellow travellers to eter- 
nity. Thus it is, my brethren, that every perception of 
moral excellence and beauty, every feeling of obliga- 
tion, and every enlightened view of the value of the 
soul, combine to urge the believer to pursue that course 
of which the apostle speaks when he-says, "to me to 
live is Christ/' And he does pursue it, imperfectly in- 
deed, and not at all times with equal ardor — this is his 
sin, his burden, and his sorrow — but sincerely, earnest- 
ly, perseveringivj and with an enlightened zeal, self* 

14 



S02 SERMONS* 

devotion, and delight, gradually increasing as he grows 
in grace and ripens for his Redeemer's presence. 

My brethren, is it thus with you ? Do you look to 
Christ, and rely on him as the author of spiritual and 
everlasting life to your souls by his atoning sacrifice 
and renewing grace? Do you, by faith, go to him 
daily in his word and ordinances for wisdom, strength, 
and consolation ? Above all, do you habitually make 
it the great object of life, to honor him by seeking to 
know more of him, to be more like him, to love him 
better, and to enjoy more intimate communion with him 
yourselves, and by praying, and laboring, and deny- 
ing yourselves, that you may promote his cause among 
your fellow sinners, and especially in the hearts of his 
people ? Examine yourselves ; prove yourselves ; not 
every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into his 
kingdom. Unless our religion exerts a transforming 
influence on our characters ; unless it imbues us with a 
Christ like spirit, stamps the image of Christ upon our 
souls, and moulds our lives into a conformitv with his 
example, it does not prepare us to be with Christ ; it 
does not fit us for Heaven ; and if it fails of this, no 
doubt it will fail to procure us admission into Heaven, 
and we shall be disowned of Christ at last. 

Prove your own selves, therefore, and whatever you 
would do in this matter do it now — for the time is short 
— the hour of decision draws nigh — the Judge standeth 
before the door — soon we shall follow our departed sister 
into that world where no change is known, where cha- 
racter and destiny are fixed. Behold, saith the Lord 
of life and death — behold, I come quickly and my reward 
is with me, to give to every man according as his work 
shall be. Happy he who can say in the spirit of the 
apostle, To me to live is Christ. I know, I feel that I 



TO DIM IS GAIN. 303 

am Dot my own ; Christ is the author, the supporter, the 
end of life to me; I see in him supreme excellence, 
divine and matchless beauty. He deserves my highest 
esteem, my firmest confidence, my most devoted obedi- 
ence. I am bound to him as my sovereign, by every 
tie of creating power, preserving goodness, of redeem- 
ing mercy ; my interest, my honor, my happiness here 
and hereafter, are identified with the success of that 
cause for which he died ; and to this cause I joyfully 
consecrate myself, my time, talents, property, influence, 
all that I have, all that I am, unreservedly, uncondi- 
tionally, for ever. Let him use me and mine for his 
glory, and give me some humble place among his redeem- 
ed to mingle in their everlasting anthems to his praise. 
Happy he who can thus say to me, To live is Christ ; 
for he may add, and to die is gain. So said the apostle 
when he wrote to the Philippians ; and he was of the 
same mind when death drew nigh. I am now ready to 
be offered and the time of my departure is at hand ; 
and he says to all believers : All things are yours, life 
and death, for ye are Christ's. But why was it gain for 
him to die ? Because it was to depart and be with 
Christ. To know by experience that for which the 
Saviour prayed, as the consummation of his desires, for 
those to whom his love was stronger than death ; Father, 
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with 
me where I am, that they may behold my glory which 
thou hast given me ; to enjoy that of which the spirit 
saith, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, for 
they rest from their labors and their works do follow 
them ; to share that glory, a glimpse of which led the 
first martyr to exult amid, the agonies of dissolution, 
while he cried, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, and which, 
seen by the eye of faith through the gloom of the dark 
valley, has lit up a smile of joy on many a pallid coun- 



304 SERMONS. 

tenance, and drawn from many a faltering tongue the 
triumphant song, grave, where is thy victory! O 
death, where is thy sting ! How can it be otherwise ? 
If to live be Christ, to die must be gain ; if Christ be 
the object of supreme love and confidence : if the per- 
fect knowledge of Christ, perfect conformity to his ex- 
ample, perfect communion with him, and the perfect 
accomplishment of all his holy and merciful purposes. 
be the centre and end of the soul's desires and hopes, 
there must be gain, unspeakable, eternal gain in death : 
for while the sinner trembles at his approach, and his 
hopes wither, and his j . He 

releas that has been born from above from 

all its infirmities and imperfections ; he severs the ties 
: bound i: to this orld of t rror, 

weariness and b ::: uu and rends the veil t". 

_ 3i gaze : and it rises, buo] 
with immortal energies^ to behold what it believed, and 
enjoy what it desired. Now the glorified saint pr: 
the full efficacy of redeeming love, and, while his 
Saviour's glories shine upon him with -unclouded radi- 
ance, feels himself transformed into his perfect like:: 

a that image reflected in all around him, is united to 
the general assembly and church of the first born by 
indissoluble bonds of love, rejoices in perfect and ever- 
ting fellowship with them and with their Lord, and 
pours out in unison with theirs its notes of rapturous 
and endless praise. Yes. ::s gain, immense, eternal 
. to die. Shall we then mourn for who have 

fallen asleep in Jesus ? Shall we mourn because they 
have left all that they loved on earth? be: eye 

once beaming with Christian affection and Christ 
hope, and kindling in the fervor of devotion is now 
close use the lips on which dwelt the law of kind- 

ness are sealed up, and the tongue once vocal with 



TO DIE IS GAIN. 305 

accents of supplication, thanksgiving, and praise, is now 
silent in the grave ? Ah ! let us rather follow with the 
eye of faith the emancipated spirit, as it leaves all its 
infirmities, its errors, its sins, and sorrows and fears 
behind ; and, rising to the consummation of all that it 
wished and hoped for here, enters the Heavenly Zion 
with songs and everlasting joy ; and while in spirit we 
join the gratulations of that holy, happy company who 
bid it welcome to their blest abodes, let us resolve, in 
a devout reliance on the grace of God, to live to Christ, 
more entirely, more cordially, more constantly than we 
have ever done, that to us it may be gain to die. Die 
we must. The unchangeable decree of the Almighty 
consigns these bodies to the dark and silent tomb, and 
bears their immortal spirits onward to the eternal world ; 
silently, indeed, but steadily and swiftly as the march 
of time. And the hour draws nigh — soon our seats will 
be left vacant in the house of God, and all the places 
that know us now will know us no more for ever. Will 
it be gain for us to die ? If ye have sought to know 
and love and honor Christ as the great end of life, it 
will; but if you have sought pleasure, or wealth, or 
honor, or anything but Christ, as the end of life, oh ! 
it will be loss — eternal loss — the loss of all things ; all 
things earthly must be left behind, and the soul, unfit 
for communion with Christ and the society of his saints, 
must be shut out from Heaven and have its place with 
all the workers of iniquity. 



SEEMON XVI. 

SEEKING GOD WITH THE WHOLE HEART. 

" Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with 
all jour heart."— Jeremiah xxix. 13. 

Thus God describes the attitude which his people must 
assume in order to their reception of the blessings which 
it was his gracious purpose to bestow upon them. 
Thus he teaches men in all ages what he requires of 
them if they would experience the fulfilment of his 
great and precious promises. To find God, in the sense 
of the text, is to find him gracious to us, present with 
us, in the favor he bears to his chosen people ; to find 
him, as our reconciled God and Father in Christ Jesus ; 
to find him as the strength of our hearts, the refuge, 
the portion, and the joy of our souls. Are you an im- 
penitent sinner ? To find God, is to find pardon through 
the blood of his Son ; to find renovation of heart and 
restoration to holiness, by his Word and Spirit ; to find 
adoption into his redeemed family, a part in his parental 
care, faithfulness, and love, and a sure title to life 
eternal through his rich mercy in Christ Jesus ! Are 
you a child of God, but is your filial love, your venera- 
tion, your confidence low and languid, and does your 
heavenly Father rebuke your undutiful deportment 
and hide his face from you? For you to find God, is 
to find the light of his countenance lifted upon you ; to 
feel his love shed abroad in your heart ; to enjoy a 
holy and blissful communion with him in his ordi- 
nances; and, by his Spirit dwelling in you, to be 



SEEKING GOD WITH THE WHOLE HEART. 307 

furnished for doing and suffering his will, fitted to show 
forth his praise, and enabled to promote his cause in the 
salvation of your fellow men. Do we speak of a Church 
of Christ ? A church finds God, when God is present 
in her solemn assemblies and at her holy ordinances, as 
he was with the primitive church at and after the day 
of Pentecost, when they received the promise of the 
Father, and were all filled with the Holy Ghost ; when 
the multitude of them that believed were of one heart 
and of one soul ; ivhen great grace was upon them all, 
and they walked in the fear of the Lord and in the 
comfort of the Holy Ghost, and the Lord added to the 
church daily such as should be saved. How important 
is it, how unspeakably desirable for every person in this 
house, whether saint or sinner, and for this whole 
church, thus to find God here to-day. It may be done. 
God is not far from every one of us. He waits to be 
gracious. He tells us in the text how we may find 
him. May he incline our hearts now to hear and obey, 
that we may find him now. 

If you would find him, you must seek him. " Ye 
shall seek me and ye shall find me." In the gift of his 
Son to die for our sins ; in the full provision thus made 
for your pardon and your restoration to holiness ; and 
in the gracious calls and invitations of the gospel to 
accept of these blessings as his free gift, and be recon- 
ciled to him through the blood of the cross ; in these 
things God is found of them that sought him not. His 
holy compassion moved toward us in our sinful and 
perishing condition, and unsolicited, undeserved by us, 
he gave his unspeakable gift. So in sending to us the 
glad tidings of peace and pardon through the blood of 
the cross, when so many millions of our fellow sinners 
have never heard the sweet sounds of redeeming love, 
God is found of us ; but, having made so rich a provision 



308 SERMONS. 

for us and brought it so near to us, if we would make 
it our own we must seek it. " Seek and ye shall find ; 
knock and it shall be opened unto you," are the direc- 
tions legibly written over the gate of Heaven. You 
must feel and acknowledge that you need the blessing. 
You must sincerely and earnestly desire it. You must 
apply for it at the time and in the way which God has 
appointed, or you shall never have have it. Slight it, 
and you shall learn its value when it is for ever out of 
your reach. Neglect it, or the appropriate means of 
obtaining it, and you cannot escape. You may count 
the purchase of the blood of Christ so cheap a thing, as 
to presume it will be yours whether you seek it or not ; 
but you will mourn at the last, when the harvest is 
past and the summer is ended, and you are not saved. 
You may cherish sloth and formality, and a worldly 
mind, and fancy all is well, though you do not deny 
yourself, nor take up the cross daily, nor follow Christ 
in his zeal for God and love to man ; .but God has said, 
11 Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion, I will search 
Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are 
settled on their lees." This church may say, I am rich 
and increased in goods, while her members do not con- 
tinue with one accord in prayer and supplication, nor 
remove the stumbling-blocks, nor prepare the way of 
the Lord ; but she will remain dry and barren while 
the dews of Heaven are descending all around her, and 
on her altars may be written Ichabod. God will have 
us to know our guilt and misery without him. He 
requires us to feel our dependence and our need of his 
gracious interposition on our behalf. We must so 
desire his blessing and apply for it, in the way of his 
appointment, that when it is bestowed we shall receive 
it with gratitude, and improve it with diligence, giving 
him the glory. " Ye shall seek me, and find me." 



SEEKING GOD WITH THE WHOLE HEART. 309 

Again: you must seek God with the heart God 
looks upon the heart ; his eye is upon the secret mo- 
tives that govern you. In vain may you seek him with 
ever so much apparent earnestness, if you cherish se- 
cret sin, and are prompted only by selfish and mercenary 
motives. He deals with you as moral agents, free and 
responsible to him for your principles of action, as well 
as for your conduct. He has clearly taught you his 
claims upon you, and your obligations to love, obey, 
and trust in him. He has set motives before you to 
persuade you to yield a willing obedience to those claims, 
and now he calls upon you to choose and to act for your- 
self. If you choose to seek after him with a willing 
mind and an obedient heart ; if you choose to give to 
the care of your soul, and the concerns of eternity, that 
supreme attention which their importance demands ; if 
you choose to make the exertions and the sacrifices 
implied in giving up the world and seeking your happi- 
ness in God ; if you choose to forsake every evil way, 
and renounce every presumptuous hope, and to dedi- 
cate yourself wholly to God, relying upon his rich 
mercy in Christ Jesus for the pardon of your sins and 
for grace to do his will, God assures you of his readi- 
ness to receive you, of his willingness to grant you all 
needed aids of his Holy Spirit, and to bless you for ever 
with his favor, which is life, and his loving kindness, 
which is better than life. But if you are not willing to 
do this ; if you cannot consent to turn your back upon 
the world; if, to quiet your conscience, or to build 
yourself up in a vain and self-righteous hope, you pro- 
fess to seek God and make some partial reformation, 
and go through some outward forms of religious duty, 
while you regard iniquity in your heart, and neither 
cordially forsake and hate your sins nor trust in the 

14* 



310 SERMONS. 

Lord Jesus Christ, God will not hear you, God will not 
be found of you. You must seek God with the heart 
I remark, in the last place, if you would find God, 
you must search for him with all your heart. This ex- 
pression describes intense earnestness of desire, such as 
David felt when he said, a As the hart panteth after 
the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O 
God ; my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." 
Such desires spring from the heartfelt conviction that 
one thing is needful; that it will not profit a man 
though he should gain the whole world and lose his 
own soul ; that eternal things are the grand realities ; 
that, compared with the favor of God, and an interest 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, all other things are vain and 
worthless. To search for God with all the heart, im- 
plies, moreover, a determined purpose to secure his favor 
and a part in his great salvation ; a deliberate, fixed, 
and solemn resolution, whatever others may do, and 
whatever may be the consequences to ourselves, we 
will serve God and seek our happiness in him. Such a 
desire and such a purpose concentrate all the powers 
of the soul upon the single point of finding God, and 
in him life eternal. They will prompt to exertion for 
the attainment of this object ; exertion made with a 
careful attention to the directions God has given in his 
word ; exertion followed up with an ardor, constancy, 
and perseverance which nothing can divert, or dis- 
hearten, or relax. Are you a Christian ? In search- 
ing for God with all your heart, you will wrestle like 
the patriarch, until the breaking of the day ; you will 
say, as he said: "I will not let thee go except thou 
bless me." Are you unconverted? Your very soul 
will cry, as the jailor did, " What must I do to be 
saved?" or Paul, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to 



SEEKING GOD WITH THE WHOLE HEART. 311 

do ?" Does a Church of Christ search for God with all 
the heart ? It will be found like the primitive church 
in that upper room at Jerusalem — all its members with 
one accord, in one place, continuing in prayer and sup- 
plication, waiting for God, in the fulfilment of his pro- 
mise and the outpouring of his Spirit, more than they 
that wait for the morning. 

It was this searching for God with all the heart ; this 
fervor of desire, and decision of purpose, and entire self- 
devotion to the great concern of the soul which our 
Saviour taught, when he said, Strive to enter in at the 
strait gate, for many, I say unto you, shall seek to 
enter in, and shall not be able. Whoso forsaketh not 
all that he hath, cannot be my disciple ; he that loveth. 
father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me ; 
and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is 
not worthy of me ; and he that taketh not up his cross 
and folio weth after me, cannot be my disciple. Whoso 
flndeth his life, i.e., as the connexion shows, he that 
spares himself and shrinks from hazarding even life in 
my service or at my command, shall lose it; but, 
whoso loseth his life for my sake, shall keep it unto 
life eternal. Such was the spirit of many of his primi- 
tive disciples, when they heard his call : at once they 
forsook all and followed him. It was in this spirit, that 
Zaccheus, hearing the call of Christ, made haste and re- 
ceived him joyfully, and standing up in the presence of 
a multitude said — " Behold, the half of my goods I 
give to the poor:" and Jesus replied — " This day is 
salvation come to this house." It was the want of this 
fixed and solemn purpose that ruined that interesting 
and amiable young ruler of whom we read in the Gos- 
pel : he came running to Jesus Christ, in the eagerness 
of a suppliant, and kneeling down before him with un- 
affected humility, asked with the utmost seriousness 



312 SERMONS. 

11 Good Master, what must I do, that I may inherit eter- 
nal life:" but, when he heard in reply, "Go, sell all 
thou hast and give to the poor, and come follow me, 
and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven," he went away, 
sorrowful — sorry that he could not be saved on easier 
terms. He, not willing to forsake all for Christ, 
sought God, but he did not search for him with all his 
heart He perished, so far as we know, like many a one 
in this day, as moral and amiable as he, as respectful to 
religion, and as much concerned about the salvation of 
his soul, but not so fixed and decided as to be willing 
to make all the sacrifices, and perform all the duties, 
and practise all the self-denial that Christ requires. My 
dear hearers, if you would find God, you must search 
for him with all your heart ; if you would assure the 
salvation of your soul; if you would enjoy the light of 
God's countenance, you must feel that this is your grand 
concern, you must resolve that nothing shall interfere 
with it, and you must act upon that resolution ; you 
must compel everything else to bow to this. To your 
appetites and passions, to your pride, to your love of 
ease, to your pleasures, to your companions, to your 
business, you must say, Hinder me not. Thousands 
perish by undue or ill-timed attention to things lawful 
in themselves. These occupy their time, and these en- 
gross their thoughts and feelings, and their serious pur- 
poses are put off, and their good resolutions set aside 
or forgotten, till their hearts are hardened, and the 
Holy Spirit is quenched, and their day of grace is wast- 
ed and gone ; and, as they go unprepared into eternity, 
they take up the bitter lamentation, " The harvest is 
past, and the summer is ended, and I am not saved." If 
you would find God, you must search for him with all 
your heart ; you must give yourself up to this work 
without any secret reserve. It will not do for you to say, 



SEEKING GOD WITH THE WHOLE HEART. 313 

14 Thus far I will go, such and such efforts and sacrifices 
I am willing to make ; but here is this pleasure I cannot 
give up, or this duty I cannot perform, or that ungodly 
friend I cannot displease, or that measure I cannot con- 
sent to." " All, all that the Lord commandeth will I 
do," must be the language, not of your lips only, but of 
your heart and your conduct. 

You must give yourself up to this work without any 
condition ; you must not say, if I feel so and so ; if 
others do so and so ; or, if God deals with me thus and 
thus, then I will give my whole heart to him, to trust 
in his mercy through Christ, and to keep all his com- 
mandments by the aid of his Spirit. No ; but you must 
say, I will do all my duty so far as I can discover it, 
whether I get any comfort or not. I feel that I am 
perishing ; something must be done ; I have no other 
hope ; I will cast myself upon his mercy ; I will give 
myself up to his service, and if I perish, I perish ; and 
to this unreserved and unconditional searching for. 
God with all your heart, you must come without any 
delay. You never search after God with all your heart, 
till you feel that he is a present God, and resolve to find 
him now. His salvation is a present salvation, — the 
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, 
and behold, now is the accepted time ; all delay when 
your duty is known, is known and wilful disobedience ; 
all delay, when you have heard the call and invitations 
of Jesus Christ, is contempt of the blessed Jesus ; all 
delay forfeits the promise of God — that which is a pro- 
mise of a present blessing to those who are now obe- 
dient ; all delay hardens your heart, grieves the holy 
spirit of God, wastes your day of grace, fills up the 
measure of your sins, and hastens the eternal ruin of 
your soul. " Ye shall seek me, and ye shall find me, 
when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Are 



314 SERMONS. 

any of you ready to complain that these are hard terms 
of salvation. "We have nothing to do with making the 
terms ; our business is simply to declare them as they 
are laid down by the great Author of salvation, and to 
persuade you to accept them. To the law and to the 
testimony, if we speak not according to this word, it is 
because there is no light in us. If these are his terms, 
and you do not like them, your controversy lies not 
with us, but with Him. You are free to comply with them 
or not ; but they cannot be altered : Behold, saith he, 
this day I set life and death before you — a blessing and 
a curse — choose ye, therefore, this day, whom ye will 
serve. Consider how precious are the interests you have 
at stake ; how momentous the object to be secured : to 
find God as your God and portion ; in him to find eter- 
nal life ! Is it not worth searching for with all your 
heart ? Consider by what means these blessings have 
been brought within your reach, at what an expense 
the Son of God has provided for the salvation of your 
soul. Look at Gethsemane and Calvary, and say did 
he not toil and bleed and die to bring you nigh to God ? 
and will you not search for him with all your heart ? 
You are not called to make exertions and sacrifices 
upon an uncertainty ; search for the Lord with all your 
heart and you shall find him ; and are there no aids of 
his blessed Spirit which you may expect ? no joys of 
pardoned sin you may experience ? no peace of God 
that passeth understanding to keep your heart and mind 
though Jesus Christ ? Make the experiment ; you shall 
find that wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all 
her paths are peace. 

May we not learn from this subject why this church 
is not blessed, to the same extent with sister churches ? 
why Christians here are not full of faith and the Holy 



SEEKING GOD WITH THE WHOLE HEART. 315 

Ghost? and why inquiring souls are lingering and 
hesitating ? 

Let us search for God with all our hearts ; and let us 
do it now. 



SEEMON XVII. 

EARNESTNESS IN RELIGION. 

" Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." — Eccle- 
siastes ix. 10. 

The text announces a maxim of great importance. It 
is altogether practical in its character ; it admits of a 
very extensive application. If we regard it simply as 
the fruit of the writer's reflection and experience, we 
may quote it to support his claim to be considered the 
wisest of men. In every important concern of the pre- 
sent life it deserves our most serious attention. 

When we look upon it as the dictate of inspiration, 
and consider it in reference to the great concerns of the 
soul and the life to come, it assumes a more command- 
ing attitude. Its claims upon us are then paramount 
and imperative. 

Let us consider, first, its meaning, and the reasons 
that enforce it ; and secondly, its application. 

In explaining the meaning of the text it is hardly 
necessary to remark, that we are to do with our might 
only what is in itself lawful and good. Men often en- 
gage in pursuits which are in their nature sinful and 
ruinous. In such cases, all their ardor and energy do 
but hasten and aggravate their perdition. Every at- 
tainment they make is like climbing so much higher on 
the sides of a precipice — it will render their downfall 
more calamitous. So far from doing evil with our 
might, we are not to do it at all ; we must turn away 
our hand from it altogether. To do with our might 



EARNESTNESS IN RELIGION. 317 

what our hand findeth to do, is to act with decision 
and energy. There must be decision of purpose ; this, 
as distinguished from wilful or capricious obstinacy, 
rests upon a rational conviction of the value of the ob- 
ject we seek, and the possibility of obtaining it by 
proper exertion ; it will lead to the diligent use of all 
appropriate means ; it will enlist all the energies of the 
mind in its pursuit ; it will prepare a person for mak- 
ing any sacrifice, or practising any self-denial that may 
be essential to his success. 

Again : to do with our might, is to act with prompt- 
ness. Indifference to an object, or indecision as to the 
manner of pursuing it, are the great sources of delay. 
Let these be removed ; let there be earnestness and de- 
cision ; and no time will be lost. The work will be 
commenced without delay, and prosecuted with dili- 
gence. He who loiters in his pursuit of an object, or 
suffers his attention to be diverted from it, is not doing 
with his might what his hand findeth to do. 

In the last place, to do with our might, implies per- 
severing exertion. It stands opposed to that love of 
change which finds, in the novelty of an object, its 
chief attraction ; to that fickleness which is ever ready 
to give up a pursuit through mere caprice, or because 
it meets unlooked for opposition ; and to that incon- 
stancy of spirit which passes so readily, from ardent de- 
sire and raised expectation, to disgust and despondency. 
He who does with his might, presses forward in pursuit 
of his object through every obstacle with untiring pa- 
tience and unrelaxing energy till his efforts are crown- 
ed with success, or its impossibility is manifest. To do 
with our might whatsoever our hand findeth to do, is 
to act with decision, with promptness, and with untir- 
ing perseverance. 

In our own nature, and in the circumstances in which 



318 SERMONS. 

we are placed, we may find numerous and weighty rea- 
sons to enforce this maxim. We are frail, and our life 
is proverbially uncertain. In a moment we may be 
hurried away to return no more, leaving our wisest 
plans incomplete, and our best purposes unaccomplish- 
ed. Indecision, therefore, or delay, or relaxation of ef- 
fort, hazards total failure, and the entire loss of previous 
exertion. Our mental and physical resources, the power 
of our minds, and the means at our command for carry- 
ing our purposes into effect are imperfect, limited, and 
comparatively feeble. If, therefore, we would not live 
almost in vain ; if we would accomplish anything great 
or good, such fixedness of purpose and concentration 
of effort and energy as shall give to our limited re- 
sources the greatest possible efficacy, are indispensable. 
He who roves from object to object, and spends his 
strength in random or desultory effort, does but waste 
his life in laborious idleness. 

Again: in this world which has apostatized from 
God and fallen under the dominion of the prince of 
darkness, there is an enormous mass of moral evil al- 
ways in active hostility to every great and good enter- 
prise; and this opposition is commonly violent and 
formidable in proportion to the importance and excel- 
lence of any good work. Nothing can be plainer than 
the necessity of vigor, promptness, and perseverance, 
when so many obstacles must be surmounted, and so 
much hostility overcome, in order to success. See, then, 
in the frailty and uncertainty of human life ; in the fee- 
bleness of our powers, and the limited and imperfected 
nature of our means of action, and in the counteract- 
ing and opposing influences which are in motion all 
around us, the importance of doing whatsoever our 
hand findeth to do with our might. 

We have already intimated that this maxim has a 



EARNESTNESS IN RELIGION. 310 

it extensive application. In every lawful and valua- 
ble concern of the present life, he who disregards it may 
expect to labor in vain, and spend his strength for 
nought. Whatever is worth doing at all, is worthy of 
being well done. Nothing important can be thoroughly 
executed if it does not -receive, at least for a time, earn- 
est and exclusive attention. To every purpose there is 
a time and a season ; he who defers it for one day be- 
yond its proper time, subjects himself to the necessity 
either of neglecting it, or of permitting it to crowd out 
of place something else perhaps of equal importance. 
Prompt, vigorous, and persevering action, is the great 
secret of efficiency and success. It has been well un- 
derstood, and practically illustrated, by those who have 
been most remarkable for success in worldly pursuits. 
They have risen to eminence, partly it may be, by the 
force of native powers, partly by a concurrence of 
favorable circumstances, but far more by intense devo- 
tion to their particular object, leading them, whatsoever 
their hand found to do, to do it with their might. 

But the maxim has a far more interesting and im- 
portant application to the great concerns of personal 
religion. In serving God and preparing for eternity, 
we must do whatsoever our hand findeth to do with 
our might. The work is great and arduous in itself. 
It must be carried on and completed in the face of 
opposition, and over numerous and formidable obsta- 
cles. In worldly concerns, men may sometimes stumble 
upon success. Not so here. The way of life is a straight 
and narrow way. Over the threshold is written, " Strive 
to enter in, many shall seek and shall not be able." 
u Whoever forsaketh not all (hat he hath, cannot be my 
disciple." In such a work, mere knowledge is vain ; 
wishes are idle. Resolutions are worse than fruitless, 
without vigorous, prompt, persevering action. This is 



320 SERMONS. 

true of the whole course, and it is equally true of every 
several step in the way of life. In each effort to mortify 
sin and to cultivate holiness ; in the use of every means 
of grace ; in the performance of each duty, personal, 
relative, and social, we must do with our might, we 
must give our whole attention to the work, our whole 
souls must be thrown into it, or our expectations of 
profit and acceptance are unauthorized and vain. In 
every concern of personal piety one hour of intense 
application of the whole soul to divine and eternal 
things is worth more than days or weeks of compara- 
tive formality and lukewarmness. To such exertion 
God has promised his blessing, without which all our 
efforts will be unsuccessful. " Ye shall seek me," saith 
he, " and ye shall find me, when ye shall search for me 
with all your heart" " Whatsoever thy hand findeth 
to do, do it with thy might." 

In the last place, this maxim applies with peculiar 
force to every enterprise and effort for promoting the 
glory of Grod in the salvation of men, and to none more 
than to that form of benevolence which has called us 
together to-day. Every plan to do good to the souls 
of men has to encounter a two-fold opposition ; it is 
opposed by the sloth, unbelief, and selfishness of those 
who must be active agents in its execution, and by the 
indifference, worldly-mindedness, and aversion to holi- 
ness of those for whose benefit it is designed ; and delay 
in the execution of such plans is doubly hazardous, 
because both the agents and the objects are liable to 
be summoned in a moment beyond the sphere of activity 
and the possibility of change. And the more pure and 
excellent any enterprise is, the more bitter and deter- 
mined is the opposition it will commonly meet from 
the god of this world, and from the maxims, fashions, 
and spirit of ungodly men. The more certainly there- 



EARNESTNESS IN RELIGION. 321 

fore will it fail, if its advocates do not engage in it with 
an ardent zeal, an inflexible constancy, and a generous 
and entire self-devotion. Plans to do good to others 
must ever depend more or less for their success upon 
their voluntary cooperation. This we cannot expect 
when we come into collision with their opinions, feel- 
ings, or habits, unless we enter into the work with our 
whole hearts. If they see us lukewarm, dilatory, or 
inconstant, they will hardly give us credit for sincerity. 
So far from enlisting them under our banner, we shall 
but confirm their indifference or opposition. They will 
find it very easy, and think it very safe to disregard 
that which does not awaken the ardor and energy of its 
avowed advocates. 

On the other hand, if we are seen engaging in the 
work with the zeal and energy of men who feel its 
immense and immediate importance, determined to 
lose no opportunity, and to leave untried no lawful 
means of promoting it, we shall carry along with us 
many who would otherwise have stood neutral, and 
witness, in many cases, hostility transformed into friend- 
ship. Our decision and consistency will secure confi- 
dence, command respect, daunt, if not disarm opposition, 
and lodge in the consciences of our enemies a testimony 
for the truth of incalculable value. How important, 
then, in every plan for doing good to the souls of men, 
that we do with our might whatsoever our hand findeth 
to do. 

We live in an age of benevolent enterprise and action. 
This is true of every Christian land. It is preeminently 
true of our own country. Here is no corrupt and cor- 
rupting alliance of Church and State. Here religion is 
unfettered by the ordinances of man. Here truth, in 
its simplicity, is brought into contact with a larger mass 
of cultivated mind than can be elsewhere found. The 



322 SERMONS. 

consequence is, that every year witnesses some new 
enterprise to arrest the growth of impiety and vice ; to 
dispel ignorance and error ; to multiply converts to 
truth, holiness, and happiness. In all these, there is 
vitality, there is energy, there is activity. They move, 
and their course is onward. As they go forward, their 
strength increases; their resources are augmented; 
the sphere of action widens upon their view ; they 
form bolder plans ; they carry them into effect with more 
rapid and signal success. No doubt they shall ultimately 
and gloriously triumph. Not perhaps precisely in their 
present form, but substantially as to their grand object, 
completely and for ever. For the Scriptures cannot be 
broken, and it is written, " The earth shall be fall of 
the knowledge of the Lord ; all nations shall call him 
blessed!" But how shall this glorious consummation 
be attained ? No doubt by the blessing of God upon 
the prayers and efforts of his people. But to what 
kind of prayers and efforts will He grant the blessing ? 
Will they be lukewarm, dilatory, and inconstant ? Will 
He work miracles to render efficient feeble, slothful, 
and half in earnest exertions ? We have no reason to 
expect it. It was not thus that the great Captain of 
salvation laid the foundations of that spiritual temple 
in which all nations shall yet offer incense and a pure 
offering to his name. It was not thus that the apostles 
and martyrs of primitive times built up the walls, and 
brought so many to worship in it ; nor is it thus that 
the topmost stone shall be brought forth, with shouting, 
Grace, Grace unto it. No, brethren, the mantle of that 
ascended prophet who said, "It is nry meat and my 
drink to do the will of my Father, and to finish his 
work," must descend upon his followers. 

There must be, throughout the church, a spiritual re- 
surrection of those who counted not their lives dear. 



EARNESTNESS IN RELIGION. 323 

that they might finish their course with joy. All the 
friends of Christ must feel the force of his last com- 
mand, " Go preach my Gospel to every creature," and 
gird themselves for prayer and effort, doing whatsoever 
their hands find to do with their might. When they 
thus proclaim redemption through the blood of Jesus, 
the Spirit of God will swell the notes, and like the 
trump of the archangel, it will wake the slumbering 
nations, and they shall stand up and adore and bless 
Immanuel. In that day the Bible will be translated 
into every tongue ; it will be circulated in every nation ; 
it will be possessed, and read, and obeyed, and loved in 
every family. It is no inferior part, in leading on that 
blessed consummation, which Bible Societies have un- 
dertaken. The Bible is the sun that must dispel the 
gloom of ignorance, and sin, and error, which has so 
long brooded over benighted and dying men. From, 
this fountain must gush out those streams of salvation 
that shall gladden the wilderness, and make the desert 
and the solitary place rejoice. This is the tree of life 
whose fruit is immortality, and whose leaves are for the 
healing of the nations. And this universal distribution 
of the Bible must be effected by the earnest, self-deny- 
ing, persevering exertions of Christians engaging in the 
work, and doing with their might what their hands find 
to do. Copies of the word of life will not be multi- 
plied and distributed by miracle, but by the strenuous, 
united efforts of those who love the Bible and are im- 
bued with its spirit, applying their hearts and hands, 
their pra} 7 ers and contributions, to forward the work. 
It is in this way, my brethren, that this Word must be 
carried to every destitute family on the face of the 
earth. And they are sparsely scattered over a wide 
extent of country, in many parts difficult of access ; 
and there is apathy, and prejudice, and opposition of all 



324 SERMONS. 

sorts, even among professing Christians, to be encoun- 
tered and surmounted before they can be supplied. 
More than two thirds of this destitution is, indeed, 
covered by resolutions of local societies. But how 
many of these resolutions are like our own ! The 
work is arduous indeed. It will never be done, unless 
they who love the Bible will arise and pray, and con- 
tribute and labor with their might. 

Great and difficult as it is, it is practicable. It has 
been done in other States — in New Jersey, and Penn- 
sylvania, and Maryland ; in eight others it is nearly 
completed ; in the Carolinas and Georgia it is in a state 
of forwardness. And shall it be said that Virginia 
alone is unable or unwilling to give the Bible to her 
destitute population ? Is there ^not benevolence and 
energy enough among us to do the work? Experi- 
ence has shown that there is. There are few parts 
of the Commonwealth where the people will not con- 
tribute enough to supply themselves, provided books 
are sent to them, and suitable agents to call their 
attention to the subject. The books are already pre- 
pared in the depository of the Parent Society, and may 
be had. The experience we have acquired has taught 
us some valuable lessons as to the best manner of labor- 
ing in the work. The plan of operations is now orga- 
nized, and the machinery is in motion. The work may 
be completed this year, if the friends of the Bible in 
this city will begin to-day to do with their might. Let 
our calculations be made to-day to finish the work dur- 
ing the present year. 

A recent communication from the Parent Society 
speaks thus : — " Let books be sent for at once by socie- 
ties who can pay for them now, or in three, six, or 
nine months. Let them be requested as a donation 
when they cannot be purchased. Let agents, ministers 



EARNESTNESS IN RELIGION. 325 

of the Gospel, editors of religious papers, and friends 
of the Bible of every denomination, urge on this glori- 
ous work. Let supplication ascend from every pulpit, 
every monthly concert, every family altar, and every 
pious heart, that the Lord would give free course to his 
word, and we may yet rejoice, in 1831, that our entire 
nation is blessed with the oracles of God." Shall Vir- 
ginia form the solitary exception at that time ? We be- 
lieve it will not. What a blessed result it will be ; 
what a testimony in favor of our free institutions ; what 
a refutation of the slanders of enemies, and the fears of 
mistaken friends, that religion cannot be supported 
without a connexion with the State. 



15 



SEEMON XVIIL 

IMMEDIATE SUBMISSION. 

"The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that 
is, the word of faith which we preach." — Romans x. 8. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ, is here called " the word 
of faith." It is so called because it reveals God's method 
of justifying and saving sinners by faith. Because it 
offers to all who hear it, salvation from sin and death, 
upon their believing it with their whole hearts ; because 
it is worthy of the full, immediate, and cordial belief 
of all who hear it ; and because the very end and 
design of Grod in causing it to be recorded in the Bible 
and proclaimed by the living herald of the cross, is that 
men may believe and be saved. When the apostle 
asserts that the word is nigh to those who read or hear 
it, he does not mean, simply, that certain ideas are 
distinctly conveyed to their minds by the significant 
letters and syllables which meet the eye, or the articu- 
late sounds that fall upon the ear in reading or hearing. 
No, he speaks of the living realities which are revealed 
in the word ; of the glorious Saviour whom the word 
sets forth; of the complete and free salvation which 
the word offers. This, the connexion shows. It is the 
righteousness of faith, that speaketh on this wise : " Say 
not in thine heart, who shall ascend into Heaven, that is 
to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend 
into the deep, that is to bring Christ up again from the 
dead." But what saith it : " The word is nigh thee." 
The word, not in the letter, but in the Spirit, living and 



IMMEDIATE SUBMISSION. 327 

powerful ; a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart, able to give life to the dead ; salvation to every- 
one that believeth ; Christ, in his power and in his 
mercy ; Lord over all, and rich unto all them that call 
upon him. So that whosoever, hearing and believing 
the word, calleth upon him as a present Saviour, shall 
now be saved ; saved from sin and wrath by his blood 
and Spirit, not at some future time or some other place, 
but here and now. 

The doctrine of the text then, is that salvation is 
brought very nigh to men in.. the gospel; so nigh that 
there is no long interval to be passed over before they 
may come to it and know and feel that it is present — 
so nigh, that no tedious preparatory work is to be per- 
formed, before they are permitted to receive and rejoice 
in it. Far from it ; it is brought so very nigh in the 
gospel call and offer, that while men hear it, they have 
only to open their hearts to it, and it enters at once in 
its blessed reality and power. They have only to 
believe, and be saved ; they have only to obey and live. 
Let me invite your attention to the illustrations of this 
truth. 

Nothing is more common than a vague indistinct 
impression, on the part of sinners who hear the gospel, 
that after all Christ has done for their salvation, there 
is, still a great deal to be done by them, before they are 
required or even permitted to trust in Christ as their 
Saviour, and to give themselves up to him. When 
they are partially awakened and begin to feel that they 
need a Saviour, they think, to use a common phrase, 
that it will take them a great while to get religion. 
Having sinned so long, and wandered so far from God, 
they think it quite out of the question, that they should 
return to him, be saved from their sins, and restored to 
his favor at once. Hence they practically deny the 



328 SERMONS. 

sincerity of God's offers of immediate pardon and re- 
generation ; they turn aside the point and urgency of 
God's calls to immediate repentance and faith in Christ. 
The faint emotions of desire after salvation, which the 
word and spirit of God had begun to awaken in their 
hearts, are discouraged and repressed ; the Holy Spirit 
is resisted ; sin and Satan take advantage of these false 
notions, to persuade men to wait for a more convenient 
season before they enter upon a work so tedious and 
difficult as that of coming to Christ for salvation. They 
go out from under the sound of the word, and speedily 
lose any impression it may have made upon them ; 
next time they hear it, the same process is repeated with 
greater facility than before ; thus they pursue a course 
of guilty delay and unceasing obduracy, until the 
patience of God is exhausted, their day of grace spent, 
and they are sealed up in final impenitence, for ever- 
lasting woe. So, where men are powerfully awakened 
and deeply concerned at the condition and prospects of 
their souls, and even when they are so far convinced 
of sin as to feel that they cannot make themselves better, 
they still think that God must do something more than 
he has already done in the way of preparing them for 
Christ, by increasing their convictions and breaking 
their hard hearts, before it is their duty or privilege to 
come to Christ and accept of salvation as his free gift ; 
and here very often, they linger, indulging pride and 
self-will, even complaining of God in their hearts be- 
cause he does not give them such convictions as they 
think others have, and they must have, before they can 
believe and be saved. I say here they linger until the 
Spirit of God, who is all this time striving with them, 
to bring them to repentance, and whom they are resist- 
ing, is provoked to forsake them, and they are given 
up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind, and go 



IMMEDIATE SUBMISSION. 329 

down to hell. Now this is the very thing God warns 
von not to do, when he says, Say not in thine heart, 
who shall ascend into Heaven to bring Christ down, or 
who shall go down into the deep, to bring Christ up, 
as if he was far off, and you could not come to him; 
— no, Christ is nigh thee, even now, very nigh, in thy 
mouth and in thy heart, by his word and Spirit, and in 
the fulness of his saving power and mercy, and thou 
mayest be saved now ; thou may est be pardoned and 
regenerated and made a child of God to-day, in this 
place, if thou wilt now do your indispensable duty. 
This is the point we wish to establish and illustrate 
from the Bible. 

I remark, first : Salvation is brought very nigh to you 
to-day in the Gospel, because the provisions of the Gos- 
pel are exactly suited to your condition and character. 
You are to-day sinners, and Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners ; you are to-day destitute of the 
favor of God, shut out from communion with God, and 
in imminent danger of everlasting banishment from the 
presence of God, and of sinking down under the frown 
of God into everlasting woe ; and because you are so 
wretched and lost, the great and holy God has compas- 
sion on you, and has sent his Son to die for your salva- 
tion : " God so loved the world that he sent his only 
beloved Son to die." Was it not a guilty and fallen 
world for which God did this ? Was it not for the lost ? 
and are you not so to-day ? 

The meritorious cause of the salvation offered in the 
Gospel is the atoning sacrifice, the perfect obedience, 
and the prevalent intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
This is the only ground of hope to every sinner on 
earth— he has obeyed, he has suffered, and he ever lives 
to intercede for sinners who can make no atonement for 
their own sins, offer no obedience of their own which 



330 SERMONS. 

a righteous God can accept, and while impenitent and 
unpardoned, can present no prayer which God will hear. 
Now, is not this your case to-day ? The effectual appli- 
cation of this salvation is by the power of the Holy 
Spirit enlightening the dark mind, renewing the per- 
verse and stubborn will, and changing and purifying 
the depraved and unholy heart. Now, is not your mind 
spiritually dark, your will stubborn and averse to holi- 
ness, and your heart hard and full of sin to-day ? Is 
not this salvation, having for its origin the compassion 
of God to the perishing ; for its meritorious cause the 
atoning blood, the perfect righteousness and the preva- 
lent intercession of Christ ; and for its efficient agent 
the Holy Spirit in his enlightening, renewing, and puri- 
fying operations upon the soul — is not this salvation 
just suited to your condition and character to-day ? Is 
it not nigh you ? Are you not at this moment just pre- 
pared for it ? You are guilty as a transgressor of God's 
holy law. Here is an atonement which magnifies that 
law and makes' it honorable. You are under a sentence 
of condemnation. Here is a free and full pardon. You 
are at enmity with the Holy God, and dead in trespasses 
and sins. Here are influences of the Spirit to sub- 
due that enmity, impart spiritual life to your soul, and 
fill you with love to God and to his service. Who can 
need such influences if you do not? and when, if not 
now ? You are living without God, and have no hope. 
Here is reconciliation to God, adoption into his family, 
a hope full of immortality, and an incorruptible in- 
heritance. You are utterly unworthy. Here is a sal- 
vation all of grace, free, sovereign grace ; not of work, 
lest any man should boast ; but of grace, that man may 
be humbled, and God have all the glory. Now does 
not this salvation precisely suit your condition to-day? 
Is it not nigh you now ? Are you not just fit to-day 



IMMEDIATE SUBMISSION. 331 

to be pardoned, regenerated, adopted into the family of 
God, and filled with the hope of immortality by the rich 
unmerited love and mercy of God to those who deserve 
nothing but his wrath? Well, this is the salvation of 
the Gospel ; and it is nigh you, because it is precisely 
adapted to your condition, character, and wants to-day. 
I remark, secondly : The salvation of the Gospel is 
brought nigh to you to-day, because its invitations and 
offers are to you just as you are to-day. What are the 
invitations of the Gospel, and to whom are they ad- 
dressed ? " Wisdom crieth without,' ' Jesus Christ the 
wisdom of God. And to whom? " To you, O men! 
I call, and my voice is to the sons of men ; how long, 
ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners 
delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge ! 
Turn ye at my reproof! behold I will pour out my 
Spirit upon you." So Jesus said, "I came not to call 
the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Did he not 
come to call you ? So he commissioned his disciples, 
" Go preach my Gospel to every creature ; go preach 
repentance and remission of sins to all nations." And 
how did they understand their commission ? Let facts 
answer. The very first Gospel sermon ever preached 
was to those who had taken with wicked hands, and 
crucified, and slain, the Lord of glory ; and their Mas- 
ter bore witness to their fidelity in inviting these sin- 
ners to come to him just as they were, for he sent his 
Spirit down, and that very day three thousand of those 
sinners believed in him and were saved. " Look unto 
me," he saith, " and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, 
for I am God, and there is none else." " Come unto me 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest." " Whosoever will, let him take the water of 
life freely." Is there a sinner in this house who is not 
included in these invitations ? And are they not sent 



332 SERMONS. 

to you simply in the character of sinners, just as you 
are here to-day? And to what are you invited? 
What are the blessings offered to you ? " Behold I will 
pour out my Spirit upon you : I will make known my 
words unto you." " Though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be white as snow ; though they be red like 
crimson, they shall be as wool!" "Be saved; take 
the water of life freely ; I will give you rest." Now 
are not these invitations and offers just suited to you 
to-day ? Do they not reach you now ? Must you wait 
for any change before it is both your privilege and your 
duty to accept these invitations, and embrace these of- 
fers as they are freely tendered to you by the compas- 
sion of God to-day? No, my hearers. Salvation is 
brought very nigh you ; you may receive the Spirit, 
have your sins pardoned, drink of the water of life, and 
in one word be saved here now. Nay, you must, or 
reject the invitations of God, and slight and despise a 
Saviour's love. The call of God reaches you here now, 
and you cannot take another step without obeying it, or 
trampling upon it at the peril of your soul. The word 
is nigh thee. These invitations and offers are made to 
you by the command of Christ : in his Word, by his 
servants, by his Holy Spirit. For what are the striv- 
ings of the Spirit, but his efforts to impress upon your 
hearts the calls of Christ? And with whom does he 
strive, but with those who resist and rebel? And 
Christ, whose offers they are, is present here also ; pre- 
sent to mark your reception of his message to-day ; 
present to make good his promise if you will not hard- 
en your heart ; present to record your refusal against a 
coming da} r , if you dare despise his offers. 

I remark in the third place : salvation is brought 
nigh to you now, because its terms are just such as you 
may, and ought now to comply with. What are the 



IMMEDIATE SUBMISSION. 333 

terms of salvation ? You may find them in the next 
verse : " Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus ; be- 
lieve in thine heart that God hath raised him from the 
dead, and thou shalt be saved." Now, how long are 
you at liberty to put off a compliance with these terms? 
AVhen is it your duty to acknowledge him whom God 
hath exalted, and given him a name above every name, 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and 
every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of 
God the Father." When is it 'your duty to acknow- 
ledge him as your Lord and Master, and to give your- 
self up to him as your Eedeemer from sin and death ? 
When is it your duty to give your full and cordial as- 
sent and consent to the whole testimony of God con- 
cerning Jesus Christ, and salvation through his blood? 
When, I say, are these things your duty? Yerily, 
now ! You may not put it off — no, not a day, nor an 
hour, without great guilt, and at the peril of your 
soul! Every moment you delay, every moment you 
remain, you disobey the known command of your Holy 
Sovereign, and practically make the God of truth a 
liar. Take another statement of the terms of salva- 
tion : " Repent ye and be converted, that your sins may 
be blotted oat." Who are here called upon to forsake 
sin and turn to God with your whole heart, but you 
who are to-day living in sin, and at this very moment 
refusing to give your heart to God ? And when is this 
your duty? How long may you live in known sin? 
How long may you persevere in the wicked opposition 
of your heart to God ? Not a day, nor an hour, nor a 
moment, but at the risk of eternal woe ! The terms of 
salvation are such as every sinner in this house not 
only may comply with, but is most solemnly bound to 
comply with here, to-day, now ! But comply with 
these terms and you are saved ; your sins are pardon- 

15* 



334 SERMONS. 

ed; you receive the Holy Ghost to regenerate and 
sanctify you, and fit you for Heaven. The word is 
nigh thee ; and this doctrine, that salvation is brought 
very nigh to sinners in the Gospel, precisely corre- 
sponds with the express and oft repeated declarations of 
God in his Word. In what language does he there ad- 
dress you on this subject ? He now commands all men 
everywhere to repent. "I have heard thee," saith he, 
" in an accepted time, and in a day of salvation have I 
succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time ! 
behold, now is the day of salvation !" "We beseech you, 
therefore, as workers together with Him, that ye receive 
not the grace of God in vain. Ye do this if you delay. 
For lo! he limiteth a certain time, saying, u To-day, 
after so long a time," as the Holy Ghost saith, " Today 
if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." 
Can anything be more plain or express than these words 
of God ? Sinners, they meet you here to-day ! You 
cannot refuse now to be saved, without despising all his 
counsel, and setting at naught all his reproof ! Will you 
do this ? Ponder well the consequences before you ven- 
ture. God meets you with the call to repentance, and 
the offer of salvation, just where you are now. He 
throws all his authority and his grace right across your 
path. You must be saved here to-day ; you cannot take 
another step. iSTo, not a step in the path of impeni- 
tence, and unbelief, and condemnation, without wilfully 
trampling upon his love. Surely the word is nigh, then. 
We might bring further illustration of this truth, were 
it necessary, from the examples recorded in the New 
Testament. Look at the woman of Samaria in the 4th 
chapter of John. Take the case of Zaccheus in the 19 th 
of Luke. What case more unlikely ! Look at the peni- 
tent thief upon the cross ; the three thousand on the day 
of Pentecost ; Paul ; the jailor ; one minute on the verge 



IMMEDIATE SUBMISSION. 335 

of suicide, the next, asking what he shall do to be 
saved. 

All speak the same language : that the sinner who 
hears the call of Christ, has salvation brought very 
nigh to him ; so nigh, that lie may be saved; that he 
ought to be saved while he listens to it, without a mo- 
ment's delay. Yes, sinner! at this moment salvation is 
nigh to you. Nothing but your own unbelief and im- 
penitence prevents you from seeing it ; yea, from ex- 
periencing it, and rejoicing in it now. Christ is now 
here ; he offers you pardon and eternal life ; he is 
knocking now at the door of your heart. Will you 
persist in impenitence and unbelief a day or an hour, in 
the delusive hope you may thus be brought near? No, 
you will be further off as long as you refuse to obey 
and live. Because, every hour you continue in this 
spirit, you increase the impenitence and unbelief that 
separates you from Christ and salvation. 

What will you do while you are preparing to believe 
and obey ? "Will you read ? will you pray ? and all with 
an impenitent unbelieving heart ? God will not hear 
you. " If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will 
not hear me.' ; Will you seek deeper conviction? 
What, by resisting the Holy Spirit ! No : your heart 
will grow harder and harder ; you can do nothing 
good, nothing acceptable ; nothing but what is offen- 
sive to God ; nothing that is not damning to your soul, 
till you repent and believe. And this you may do 
now, for the word is nigh thee. Of this you will one 
day be convinced ; perhaps when it is for ever too late. 



SERMON XIX. 

THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN. 

" Then Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a 
Christian." — Acts xxvi. 28. 

In these words a prosperous and thorough-going man 
of the world acknowledged the impression made upon 
his mind, by the preaching of the gospel. Agrippa 
was now in the prime of life. He was proud, ambitious, 
enterprising, and a lover of pleasure more than of God. 
He possessed power, honor, wealth, and ample means 
and opportunitbr of gratifying appetite and passion. 
His history shows that no regard to principle restrained 
him from using, or rather abusing, these talents to selfish 
ends. He was surrounded by dependents and flatterers 
ever ready to foster his passions, and to minister to his 
vices and follies. He heard the gospel under circum- 
stances adapted to render him insensible to its appeals. 
He had come to pay a visit of congratulation to Festus, 
the Koman governor. While there he learned that Paul, 
a ringleader of the Nazarenes, a sect everywhere spoken 
against, was at that time a prisoner under charges pre- 
ferred against him by the chief priests and rulers of the 
Jews. Prompted by curiosity, or perhaps merely for 
the sake of pastime, he expressed desire to hear him ; 
" To-morrow," said the governor, " thou shalt hear him." 
Accordingly on the morrow, these great men, with their 
retinues, and a numerous and brilliant assemblage, 
entered into the place of hearing. Paul was brought 
forth wearing his fetters, and told that he might speak 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN. 33*7 

for himself. With great plainness and simplicity, yet 
with an affectionate earnestness of manner, expressive 
of conscious sincerity and of love to his Master and to 
the souls of his hearers, Paul addressed them. He spoke 
of his early life, of his zeal against Christianity, and 
his efforts to destroy it, of his remarkable conversion in 
the midst of his furious bigotry and persecuting rage, 
of his commission to preach the gospel and its holy and 
benevolent object, of his labors, successes, and suffer- 
ings in executing that commission. In all this, he 
declared known facts, and he appealed to living wit- 
nesses, in attestation of what he said. In conclusion 
he called their attention to the predictions of these very 
events in the sacred writings of the Jews ; predictions 
recorded as they knew centuries before, and now 
literally and minutely fulfilled. And he closed the 
whole by a direct appeal to the understanding and the 
conscience -of Agrippa himself. That appeal was at the 
moment irresistible ; it reached his heart ; it drew from 
him the unpremeditated and almost involuntary reply, 
" Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. " Others 
seem to have felt similar impressions. The whole 
assembly rose up and dispersed evidently with feelings 
very different from those with which they had come 
together, very unlike those of mere gratified curiosity. 
The principal persons expressed to each other their 
conviction that Paul was both sincere and innocent; 
and, whatever they might think of the application of 
his doctrine to themselves, that he had done nothing 
worthy of death or of bonds. Whether any of them 
now forsook their sins, and fled for refuge to the hope 
set before them, we are not informed. Agrippa himself, 
if history may be credited, soon lost his serious impres- 
sions, gave himself up to the dominion of appetite and 
passion, filled up his term of probation without prepar- 



338 SERMONS. 

ing for eternity, and at last died in sin, to meet that 
Saviour whose disciple he was now almost persuaded 
to become, as his righteous Judge. 

The case before us, is not a singular one. It is no 
uncommon thing for similar impressions to be made 
upon those who hear the gospel. The same causes 
which rendered religious impressions fruitless in this 
instance, operate with similar power upon the minds of 
hundreds and thousands at the present day ; and the 
result is still the same: the heart is hardened, the 
Spirit of God is resisted, and the sinner, once on the 
threshold of the kingdom of Heaven, dies in his sins 
and is for ever banished from the presence of Infinite 
Purity. 

Let us examine the state of Agrippa's mind at this 
time, and trace his subsequent course and the causes of 
it a little more in detail, and then consider the applica- 
tion of the subject to ourselves. It is evident that his 
attention was awakened to the doctrines of the gospel. 
What he had wished to hear merely for amusement, or 
to gratify curiosity, urged itself upon his attention as a 
practical concern of great importance, and personally 
interesting to himself. It awakened in his mind thoughts 
and feelings in relation to his own obligation and re- 
sponsibility, and his prospects beyond the grave, till 
that hour unknown. He felt that he ought to investi- 
gate and decide upon its claims. He laid aside, for the 
moment, the attitude of thoughtless scepticism, or care- 
less stupidity, and assumed that of awakened attention 
and serious inquiry. 

It is evident, moreover, that he was convinced of the 
truth of the gospel. Paul's account of his own conver- 
sion, was, if true, a demonstration of this ; and his testi- 
mony to it taken in connexion with his known previous 
character, his whole subsequent course, and his appear- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN. 339 

ance before Agrippa that day, was worthy of the fullest 
credit. His statement of undoubted facts, concerning 
the character and doctrines of Jesus, and the wide and 
successful promulgation of the gospel, formed another 
strong and conclusive argument that the gospel must 
be the power of God unto salvation. And his appeal 
to the prophetic writings of the Old Testament, so re- 
markably fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of 
Jesus of Nazareth, confirmed the whole argument, and 
established beyond all reasonable doubt the truth of 
the gospel. For the moment, Agrippa was convinced. 
His understanding assented to the truth ; he received 
the truth, but he believed not in the love of it, he be- 
lieved not with his heart unto salvation. 

It seems evident, again, that the truth reached his con- 
science, and took hold of his feelings. He saw something 
of its application to himself ; through the clouds of preju- 
dice and passion, the light gleamed in upon his soul, not in 
its clear and steady radiance, but by glimpses, startling 
though transient. " This man/' he perhaps said to 
himself, " is neither an impostor nor an enthusiast. He 
speaks words of truth and soberness. Jesus of Naza- 
reth is indeed the Messiah, sent of God for the salvation 
of men. I need an interest in him as well as others. 
I am a sinner ; I am exposed to the wrath of God ; I 
am immortal ; I must give an account of myself to my 
offended Judge ; my rank, and power, and wealth, and 
the flatteries of my dependents, will not avail anything 
at the awful tribunal of God. Pardon and eternal life 
are offered to me now. Perhaps if I reject them now 
they may retire for ever beyond my reach. This may 
be the only opportunity of making my peace with God." 
Such may have been his thoughts and feelings, as he 
listened to the clear and forcible arguments of the 
apostle, uttered with all the affectionate and impressive 



340 SERMONS. 

earnestness of one, whose heart glowed with love to 
God and man, and who felt that, under the eye of his 
Master, he delivered a message fraught with life or 
death to his fellow sinners ; and when he was personally 
addressed in that pointed appeal, "King Agrippa, 
believest thou the prophets ?" the preacher reading in 
his countenance the emotions of his soul, and immedi- 
ately adding, "I know that thou believest," he could 
no longer keep silent. In the presence of that whole 
assembly, he declared, " Almost thou persuadest me to 
be a Christian." I am almost ready to lay my honors, 
my riches, myself, at the feet of Jesus ; to own him as 
my Lord, trust in him as my Eedeemer, devote my 
all to his service, and join myself at every hazard to his 
despised and persecuted followers. Happy had it now 
been for Agrippa, had he followed the convictions of 
his judgment, obeyed the dictates of his conscience, 
yielded to the gracious movements of the Spirit of God, 
and, by one honest, earnest, determined effort, renounced 
the world as his portion, cast himself upon the mercy 
of God in Christ Jesus as the only foundation of his 
hope, and laid hold upon the promise of eternal life 
through him. Thus, he might, indeed, have lost his 
earthly crown, have subjected himself to the scorn and 
hatred of those ungodly men by whom he was sur- 
rounded, and have blighted his prospects of prolonged 
and increasing honor, wealth, and power in this dying 
world. But instead of these, he had tasted that peace 
of God which the world cannot give or take away, 
rejoiced in sweet and holy communion and fellowship 
with a risen and glorified Eedeemer, and felt the cheer- 
ing influence of a hope full of immortality shining 
upon him in every dark passage of his mortal journey, 
irradiating the dark valley of the shadow of death, and 
conducting him to those pure and blissful abodes, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN. 341 

where they whose robes are washed and made white in 
the blood of the Lamb, live and reign with Christ for 
ever and ever. Then, like Paul, he had finished his 
course with joy, and with him had now worn a crown 
of righteousness, and joined in the everlasting anthems 
of the skies. But he hesitated ; he refused to decide; 
he disobeyed the authority and rejected the mercy of 
God ; he broke up the assembly ; he retired not to 
serious meditation and prayer in his closet, but to 
mingle in the circles of rank, and splendor, and afflu- 
ence, and yield himself up to the dominion of pride, 
ambition," and the love of pleasure. He, no doubt, felt 
that it would cost him too much self-denial, and inter- 
fere too seriously with his worldly plans and prospects, 
to cherish his serious impressions and yield to the 
dictates of his enlightened conscience, and his sober 
judgment. He therefore sought to content himself for 
the present with expressing his conviction of the inno- 
cence of Paul and the excellence of his doctrines, and 
making some resolutions of attending seriously to the 
w r hole subject at some future convenient season. He, 
no doubt, sought to dismiss it for the present from his 
mind, as it interrupted his pursuits and pleasures, and 
made his conscience uneasy. 

In this there is reason to, believe he was fatally suc- 
cessful. All that we know of his subsequent history, 
though it presents him to us as an amiable man, fur- 
nishes no evidence that he ever became a disciple of 
Jesus. We are not informed that he ever heard the 
gospel, or had the offer of mercy extended to him 
again. We do know that by his indecision and pro- 
crastination on this occasion he hardened his heart, and 
grieved the Holy Spirit of God. We have every rea- 
son to believe that his serious impressions were speedi- 
ly and effectually erased ; that he became more thought- 



342 SERMONS. 

less and worldly minded than before ; that he sinned away 
his day of grace, and died at last impenitent, unpardon- 
ed, unfit for Heaven, to learn at the bar of his right- 
eous Judge how great a salvation he had neglected, and 
what aggravated guilt and awful condemnation he had 
incurred. His judgment was convinced, his conscience 
was awakened, his hopes and fears were moved ; but 
his heart was wedded to the world, his heart was not 
right in the sight of God, and he lived and died in the 
gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. 

In the practical improvement of this subject, I re- 
mark 

First : Cases like that of Agrippa are very common 
under the faithful preaching of the Gospel. God does not 
leave his Word without a witness to the hearts and con- 
sciences of men. The influences of his Holy Spirit ac- 
company it, and make it quick and powerful, and a dis- 
cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. In its 
faithful delineations of human character, in its striking 
descriptions of man's condition as a sinner, in its per- 
fect adaptation to the conscious necessities and evils of 
our fallen nature, in its powerful appeals to the innate 
sense of obligation and responsibility which we can 
scarcely shake off, in its clear and solemn manifesta- 
tions of the moral government of God, in those sublime 
and awful realities which it reveals as the objects of 
our hopes and fears beyond the grave, it is fitted to 
make, and it does make, deep impressions upon the 
human mind ; it commands the assent of thousands to 
its truth, its requirements, and its excellences, who never 
cordially bow to its authority, and never receive it into 
their hearts by a living faith, never adopt it as the rule 
of their lives and the charter of their hopes. Many 
a time, while men listen to it, it dispels the doubts, and 
cavils, and sophistries of an evil heart of unbelief; dis- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN. 343 

sipates the mists of prejudice and passion ; and dis- 
solves the enchantments of this dying world. They 
feel for the time that it is the voice of their Saviour and 
their Judge ; that he speaks to them in accents of infi- 
nite authority and love ; and that all their dearest in- 
terests, for time and eternity, are involved in what he 
savs. They are convinced, they are moved, they are 
almost persuaded ; they resolve to neglect it no longer ; 
they purpose, without delay, to seek through Jesus 
Christ pardon for sin, peace with God, and preparation 
for death and judgment. But presently they recollect 
some worldly plan not yet accomplished ; some sinful 
pleasure not easily forsaken ; some ungodly associates, 
whose ridicule or scorn they are not willing to encoun- 
ter ; some Christian duty or self-denial they know not 
how to practise. A deceitful heart suggests that some 
future time to embrace religion will be as safe, and 
much more convenient ; and they first hesitate, and 
then conclude to put off for a season the calls of God 
and the concerns of eternity. They go out into the 
world, engage in its pursuits, taste its pleasures, and 
mingle in its society. Thus their good resolutions melt 
away ; their serious impressions are speedily effaced ; 
they fall into the snares of the devil, are absorbed by 
the objects of time and sense, and forget God, and their 
souls, and the unseen world. Again their attention 
is arrested by some solemn truth of the Word of God, 
aided, perhaps, by some affecting dispensation of Pro- 
vidence ; again their judgments are convinced, their 
consciences are aroused, their feelings are excited ; 
again they form resolutions, defer their execution 
under some vain though plausible pretext, fall into the 
snares of their spiritual enemies, and voluntarily sur- 
render themselves anew to the dominion of the w r orld, 
the flesh, or the devil. Thus their day of grace passes 



344 SERMONS. 

away, and at last they are overtaken by death, and 
hurried away to judgment ere they have made their 
peace with God, or completed their preparation for 
eternity. 

My dear hearers : could we now read those pages in 
the book of God's omniscience, when your moral history 
is recorded by an unerring hand, how many of you 
would appear to be pursuing this very course ! 

I remark secondly : The case of those who are almost 
persuaded to be Christians, and yet pursue the world 
as a portion, and neglect the great salvation of the Gos- 
pel, is most deplorable. Your being almost persuaded 
does not and cannot save you from sin and death. If 
you were starving, it would not satisfy your appetite to 
have food placed almost within your reach ; nor would 
it heal you when sick, to be almost persuaded to call in 
a physician ; nor release you, if under sentence of 
death, to almost succeed in obtaining a pardon. So 
your being almost persuaded will not reconcile you to 
God, nor unite you to Christ, nor prepare you for Hea- 
ven. Your souls must famish and die, and sink under 
the penalty of God's violated law, notwithstanding all 
your convictions of the truth and excellence of reli- 
gion, all your serious impressions, all your half in 
earnest purposes and unexecuted resolutions to repent. 
But, my dear hearers, though these things will not 
save you, they may embarrass your pursuit of earthly 
good, and embitter your enjoyment of earthly pleasure. 
They may disquiet you in the hour of retirement and 
sober thought ; make you more disconsolate than ordi- 
nary sinners under disappointments, dangers, and sor- 
rows ; and multiply sevenfold the anguish and terror 
of a dying hour. 

If the heart is hardened, and the Spirit of God is 
grieved — in proportion to the light which a sinner re- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN. 345 

sists, and the motives against which, he sins — who so 
likely as you to become obdurate and insensible ? who 
is so likely to be speedily deserted and abandoned by 
the Spirit of Grace ? How awful is the condition of that 
sinner concerning whom God hath said, " He is joined 
to idols, let him alone;" who lives only to fill up the 
measure of his iniquities and ripen for his awful doom. 

Jesus Christ has declared, " To whomsoever much is 
given, of him shall much be required ;" and again, " The 
servant who knew his Lord's will and did it not, shall be 
beaten with many stripes." Look at your character 
and condition in the light of these truths, and consider 
how great is your guilt, how appalling your danger, 
how deep and uncommon your perdition, if, like Agrip- 
pa, you should at last die impenitent and unforgiving ! 

A third practical inference from the subject is this : 
The perdition of impenitent sinners is voluntary. I 
speak now of impenitent sinners, who, like Agrippa, 
hear the Gospel of Christ. 

If such perish, it is not because there is any defect 
in the evidences of the truth of the Gospel. These are 
such as Infinite Wisdom has chosen. They have ever 
satisfied candid and serious inquirers. We do not now 
see those miracles which were wrought in primitive 
times; but we have these attested to us by credible 
witnesses ; we have the evident and wonderful fulfil- 
ment of prophecy ; we have the Word itself bearing 
the marks of its divine author ; we see its influence, and 
have it confirmed to us by those who feel it. Many, 
like Agrippa, are convinced, though they do not repent. 
If others are not convinced, it is because they will not 
examine. Their sin is voluntary. 

Nor is it because the provisions of the Gospel are in- 
sufficient. These are adequate to the salvation of the 
world. It was God's purpose to make them so : " God 



346 SERMONS. 

so loved the world that he sent his Son, that whosoever 
believeth should not perish ;" " Behold I bring you 
glad tidings, which shall be to all people." Christ's 
work of atonement was complete and perfect. It laid 
a broad foundation for pardon, and restoration to holi- 
ness. " His blood cleanseth from all sin." 

There is nothing exclusive in the invitations and of- 
fers of the Gospel. He directed his apostles to preach 
repentance and remission to all men. Men are invited 
simply as sinners, suffering under the effects of the fall. 
All such, everywhere, are invited to come and live. 

Here, then, is a perfect warrant to every one who 
hears the invitation, to appropriate to himself the full 
and perfect provisions of the Gospel, as perfect to all 
as the truth and love of God can make. And there is 
no inflexible decree compelling men to reject these invi- 
tations, no hard necessity binding them to sin and to 
suffer ; and God has presented all possible motive to 
repentance and faith; he has instituted an admirable 
system of means for this very end ; if men neglect 
them they do it voluntarily ; and he sends his Spirit 
along with these means, so that men are often convinc- 
ed, awakened, moved, almost persuaded. 

Where, then, shall we find the cause of the sinner's 
perdition? Where God charges it in his Word, " Thou 
hast destroyed thyself;' 7 where conscience charges it; 
where it will assuredly be found in the great day of 
trial; in his own voluntary rejection of mercy. 

Yes, fellow sinners, if after all that has been done 
for you, you die in your sins, your blood will be upon 
your own head. If you stand before your Judge, im- 
penitent and unbelieving, you will stand there speech- 
less. If you go down to everlasting burnings, you will 
go there under the full conviction that you are self- 
ruined. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN. 347 

How full of anguish the recollection, while the waves 
and billows of eternal woe are rolling over your lost 
soul, that once you were almost persuaded to be saved, 
but you willingly turned away, and by your own weight 
sank into the burning lake. 

How will you meet your Judge, or how answer at 
his bar, when he spreads out before you the full and 
perfect delineation of your whole course, and says to 
you, "I called, I entreated, I warned, I besought you; 
I sent my Spirit, and ye would not come ; you were al- 
most persuaded ; but you turned away ; you set at 
naught my counsels ; now, therefore, eat of the fruit of 
your doings, and be filled with your own desires." 

Oh ! be persuaded this day to become not almost, but 
altogether, the humble, devoted disciples of Jesus ; be 
persuaded now to cast yourselves, with broken and con- 
trite hearts, at the foot of the cross. He will receive 
you, and you shall know the peace of Grod which pass- 
eth understanding. 



SERMON XX. 

PANTING AFTER GOD. 

" As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul 
after thee, God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." — 
Psalm xlii. 1, 2. 

This, my brethren, is the language of true devotion ; 
of devotion stripped of every adventitious appendage, 
and purified from every unhallowed mixture. The 
Spirit of God who fostered it in the soul of the pious 
psalmist, has caused it to be recorded here, as a test of 
character and a model for imitation to all who read the 
sacred volume. If one were required to give a defini- 
tion of genuine piety, so comprehensive as to extend to 
all persons, under all circumstances, in all ages, and so 
discriminating as to distinguish it from every counter- 
feit, I know not how it could be better done, than by 
saying, "It is the tendency of the soul towards God ; 
it is the aspiration of the immortal spirit after the great 
Father of spirits, in a desire to know him and to be like 
him." The fervor of this desire, in the soul of the pious 
psalmist, is compared in the text to the thirst of the 
hart chased in sultry weather over the dusty plains. 
In another beautiful psalm, the same devout aspira- 
tions of the pious soul are thus expressed: "0 God, 
thou art my God, early will I seek thee ; my soul thirst- 
eth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and 
thirsty land where no water is ; to see thy power and 
thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 
Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips 
shall praise thee." A knowledge of God and a con- 



PANTING AFTER GOD. 349 

formity to him is the sum of all that is required by the 
precepts of revelation ; it is the attainment we are urged 
to seek by all its motives, and encouraged to hope for, 
in all its promises. The desire of this is the first prin- 
ciple, the very essence of all true religion, as it glowed 
in the heart of him whose meat and drink it was, to do 
the will of his Father and to finish his work ; and as it 
is experienced in humbler measure, by the feeblest of 
his followers. In proportion as this desire is pure, 
ardent, and constant, piety is genuine and fervent. All 
the forms of worship are valuable, so far as they cherish 
this ; all the means of grace are successful in propor- 
tion as they render it lively, active, efficient, and 
habitual ; an inextinguishable thirst to know more of 
God and to be more like him is characteristic alike of 
grace on earth and glory in Heaven. It animates the 
seraph before the throne, the spirits of the just made 
perfect, and every child of God now journeying through 
this wilderness to his Father's house on high. 

Grant me your attention while I attempt to show how 
this desire is implanted and cherished in the heart of 
man ; to illustrate its excellence, and to make a practi- 
cal improvement of the whole. 

I. How is a desire to know God and to be like him 
implanted and cherished in the heart of man ? Man 
was made upright ; in the image of God created he 
man. Before sin had darkened his understanding, 
corrupted his affections, or loaded his conscience with 
a sense of guilt, no doubt the spontaneous and habitual 
tendency of his soul was towards God ; his intellectual 
powers found their noble and delightful employment 
in tracing the perfections of his Creator as they shone 
in every part of his works, then fresh from his forming 
hand, and every perception of his glory awakened in 
his heart, new emotions of veneration and love, and 

16 



350 SERMONS. 

new aspirations after a perfect conformity to his will. 
But man being in honor abode not. By transgression 
he fell from the state in which he was created, and lost 
the knowledge, the love, and the moral image of God. 
In this fallen state, there was in man no tendency to 
return to the knowledge and the love of his Creator. 
Every bias of his soul lay in an opposite direction, and 
although he retained all his desire of happiness and his 
dread of misery, and must at every step of his departure 
have felt more keenly the bitter consequences of his 
apostasy, yet the current of depravity would have borne 
him for ever away from light, and hope, and joy, into 
the regions of darkness, and despair, and death, if 
Sovereign mercy had not stretched out her arm to 
rescue him from perdition, and restored him to the 
knowledge and the likeness of God. Even if the dark- 
ness of his understanding and the depravity of his 
heart, brought on him by the fall, had not shut him out 
from knowing and loving his Creator, how could the 
offended majesty and justice of the Eternal Sovereign 
of the universe, look with complacency on a being 
loaded with the guilt of multiplied and aggravated 
transgressions? — or how could man, conscious of his 
guilt and vileness, contemplate the infinite perfections 
of his holy Sovereign and Judge, without feeling the 
terrors of the Almighty fall upon him, and flying if 
possible from that Being whose glorious attributes stand 
arrayed in irreconcilable and everlasting opposition to 
sin ? Lost indeed was our condition, and so lost, that 
nothing less than Divine wisdom could have devised, 
and Divine power and love have provided a remedy. 
" But God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might 
not perish but have everlasting life." In accordance 
with the councils of everlasting love, the Son of God 



PANTING AFTER GOD. 351 

hath become the Mediator between God and man, by 
whom we may come into the presence of our offended 
Sovereign with a well founded hope of acceptance, and 
even look up to him with joy as our reconciled God 
and Father. Coming out from the bosom of the Father, 
resplendent with the brightness of his glory, he assumed 
a soul and a body like our own, and thus uniting in his 
person the Divine nature with the human, he is God 
manifest in the flesh. In him the attributes of Jehovah 
are embodied, are brought down to the level of our 
perception, and presented to us in a manner so distinct 
and palpable, and exhibited with such attractive loveli- 
ness and compassion, with such sweetly blended majesty 
and condescension, as gives us every possible advantage 
for coming to the knowledge of God in Christ. At the 
same time, having assumed our nature, he hath volun- 
tarily taken our low place, and through the Eternal 
Spirit offered himself a sacrifice without spot unto God, 
to expiate our guilt, and declare the righteousness of 
Gad, that he might be just, and yet the justified of 
every one that believeth in Jesus; and having thus 
provided for the pardon of our guilt by his death upon 
the cross, he hath, by his word, taught us the will of 
God concerning our duty and destiny; and, by the 
promise of the Spirit to create us anew unto righteous- 
ness and true holiness, he hath provided for subduing 
our love of sin, and our disrelish for holy employments 
and enjoyments, and filling our hearts anew with love 
to God and delight in his service. Thus he is to sinners 
the way, the truth, and the life, by which they come to 
God, to know him and to desire and seek conformity 
to him. By him and in him, they attain that knowledge 
of the only true God, which is everlasting life. Behold- 
ing, by the illumination of the Spirit of truth, the glory 
of God, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, they 



352 SERMONS. 

are transformed into the same image from glory to 
glory. All true piety, all genuine devotion in fallen 
man, has a near and intimate connexion with the Lord 
Jesus, and is dependent on him. It is by his mediation, 
that the devout soul aspires towards the blessed God ; 
it thirsts for fuller and clearer discoveries of his glories, 
as they shine with a mild effulgence in the person of 
his incarnate Son ; it longs to attain that conformity to 
him of which it sees in Jesus Christ the perfect model. 
Thus it is by the grace of Christ, that the sinner sees 
all the obstacles which his blindness, his guilt, and 
his depravity had raised to shut him out from God, 
taken away, and a fervent desire to know God, and to 
be like him, implanted and cherished in his heart. 

II. Let us now consider the excellence of this panting 
of the soul after God, this vital principle of all genuine 
piety. 

In illustration of this, I remark first, it is a most en- 
nobling principle ; it elevates and purifies the soul, and 
produces in the character all that is lovely and of good 
report. An ardent thirst for useful knowledge is 
justly esteemed a noble trait of character. Such know- 
ledge is the food of the mind, by which its faculties are 
invigorated, the sphere of its observation and its opera- 
tions enlarged, its sentiments are made liberal and 
generous, and all its powers nurtured. Such is the 
native tendency of the acquisition of knowledge in pro- 
portion to the excellence of its objects, and of the 
purposes to which it is applied. What then must be 
the tendency of an inextinguishable thirst after the 
knowledge of the all perfect and ever blessed God ; and 
this, in order to imitate his imitable perfections, and 
grow up into his likeness ! How powerfully must the 
contemplation of infinite excellence, tend to expand 
and invigorate the intellect, to purify and elevate the 



PANTING AFTER GOD. 353 

affections, to cherish in the soul every generous and 
noble sentiment, and to purge it from every sordid and 
selfish passion, and redeem it from the power of every 
degrading and unworthy principle and motive ! When 
we see a youth diligently studying the recorded actions 
and expressions of those great and good men whom 
history presents as the benefactors of their species and 
blessings to society, and animated by an ardent desire to 
emulate their virtues, we esteem this a most auspicious 
omen of future usefulness, excellence, and happiness; 
and unless some disastrous influence blights these buds 
of promise, we are not disappointed. Excellence of 
every kind assimilates the mind that sees and loves it 
to itself. How ennobling, then, must be the desire to 
know the blessed God, as he is manifest in Christ Jesus ; 
and to imitate his perfections, as they shone in him 
who went about doing good ? How must the character 
of the pious man rise and brighten in the view of all 
superior intelligence, at each successful effort to know 
more of God, and to be more like him? While the 
spirit of true devotion glows in his bosom, how does it 
raise him above the pollution and ruin of this fallen 
world, and conduct him upward and onward towards 
those bright abodes into which Heaven is gathering all 
that is pure and lovely in the universe ! Oh ! my 
brethren, there is, in the sentiments and the aims of true 
piety, even in the humblest followers of Jesus, a real 
sublimity and elevation, a genuine dignity and excel- 
lence, that outshines all that has been nurtured by 
earthly principles, in those whom men have applauded 
and admired as the great and good ; as such, God 
honors it, and will honor it, before an assembled uni- 
verse, with the cordial approbation of all holy beings. 

2d. I remark in illustration of the excellence of this 
tendency of the devout soul towards God, that it is a 



354 SERMONS. 

most active principle. All our activity is prompted by 
the desire of attaining some object, which we place 
before our minds as the reward of our exertions. If 
the prospect of ultimately reaching the point at which 
we aim be equally fair, those efforts will be strenuous 
and incessant, in proportion to what is felt to be our 
present distance from it, and the amount of exertion 
requisite to reach it. If the mind feels secure of success 
in its pursuits with very little effort, it will be compara- 
tively sluggish and inactive. If, on the contrary, it 
beholds the objects of its desires rising far above it, and 
is conscious that it can hope to succeed in reaching it 
only by tasking its powers to the utmost, and that suc- 
cess will amply compensate every effort, it will make 
corresponding exertions, unless it is discouraged by the 
remote prospect of success, and its energies are paralysed 
by despair. Apply these remarks to the subject before 
us. The object of the devout soul is to attain the 
knowledge and the likeness of the blessed God. From 
a world groaning under the ruins of the apostasy, where 
darkness, and pollution, and misery prevail, and death 
reigns and triumphs over every living thing, the child 
of God looks up to that glorious Being whose essence 
pervades the universe, and whose perfections and bless- 
edness are immense, unchanging, and eternal, and he 
longs and. labors to know and resemble him. He 
aspires after an unclouded vision of his glories and a 
perfect conformity to his excellence and blessedness. 
In aiming at attainments so sublime, he knows that he 
does not lie open to the charge of folly or presumption, 
for he beholds God manifest in Christ Jesus, reconciling 
the world unto himself for the express purpose of raising 
men to his own knowledge and likeness. He is assured 
that he who spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
up for us all, will also with him freely give us all things. 



PANTING AFTER GOD. 355 

He has the promise of the Spirit to strengthen him with 
all might in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in 
his heart by faith, that being rooted and grounded in 
love, he may know the love of God which passeth* 
knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of God. 
He has given to him exceeding great and precious 
promises, that by those he might be made a partaker of 
the Divine nature. He is animated by the example of 
a great multitude who have gone before him, esteeming 
God's favor life, and his loving-kindness better than 
life, and who have already attained the end of their 
faith, in the immediate presence, the perfect likeness, 
and full fruition of him they loved. In their circum- 
stances, how many and powerful are the motives which 
urge him to lay aside every weight and the sin that 
doth most easily beset him, and to run with patience the 
race set before him. How can he do otherwise than, 
forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth 
unto those which are before, press towards the mark for 
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Surely he will give all diligence to add to his faith 
virtue, and knowledge, and temperance, and patience, 
and brotherly kindness, and charity, that he may make 
his calling and election sure^ and have ministered unto 
him an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom 
of his Lord and Eedeemer. 

3d. This is a permanent and unfailing principle. The 
principles which animate and sustain the men of the 
world in their pursuits are mutable and transient as the 
fashion of this world which passeth away. Pleasures, 
riches, honors, all the objects of earthly ambition, glide 
rapidly beyond the reach of their most ardent and suc- 
cessful votaries. How wretched their condition who 
have given their hearts to these, when the finger of 
death closes all the avenues by which they have held 



356 8EKM0NS, 

communion with them, and the passions they have nur- 
tured, shut out from every gratification, are left to 
prey upon the mind itself. But where the reigning 
* principle of the soul is a desire to know and to resemble 
the blessed God, the way is open not only for permanent 
felicity, but for boundless and endless expansion and 
improvement. Each changing scene of his earthly pil- 
grimage affords the devout man opportunity of growing 
in the knowledge and the likeness of God, and the 
touch of death at which his material frame returns to 
its native dust, does but release his Spirit from every 
clog, that she may rise unincumbered to see him as he 
is and know even as she is known. Who may describe 
the emotions of the devout soul when every interposing 
veil which separated her from the object of her affec- 
tions is for ever withdrawn, and bearing his perfect 
image, she draws nigh to God, and while all her ex- 
panding powers are filled with his fulness, beholds 
rising and brightening before her an endless career of 
ever increasing knowledge, holiness, and joy. Surely 
they are blessed whose desire is towards God ; who 
long to know and love and be like him ; who can adopt 
the language of the psalmist : " As the hart panteth 
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O 
God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." 

From this subject we may learn what is not, and 
what is, genuine piety. It is not a round of religious 
duties however exact, nor is it zeal for any system of 
religious doctrines however correct, nor is it any excite- 
ment of the passions however rapturous or strong, nor 
even the most exemplary obedience to the dictates of 
justice and mercy in our intercourse with our fellow 
men ; all these are indeed more or less intimately con- 
nected with it. but they are connected with it as the 
stream with its fountain ; as the fruit with the tree on 



PANTING AFTER GOD. 35*7 

which, it grows ; as the language of sincerity with the 
purpose and emotions which it expresses ; as effects in 
the moral system with their causes. Piety is but 
another term for godliness ; the habitual fervent aspira- 
tion of the devout soul after the knowledge of the 
blessed God, and a conformity to his will. It has its 
seat in a mind enlightened by the Holy Ghost; it is a 
spiritual discernment of his transcendent glory and ex- 
cellence as they are manifest in Jesus Christ, and a 
heart renewed by the same blessed agent, to find its joy 
in his service, and to esteem his favor life and his loving 
kindness better than life. It is sustained and animated 
by those manifestations of himself which God makes to 
such a soul while it waits upon him, and by the ex- 
ceeding great and precious promises of his word. The 
man of genuine piety loves his closet and the sanctuary, 
and the fellowship of the saints, and all the means of 
grace ; because in these God has promised to meet with 
his people and grant them communion with himself; 
and they are all so many avenues by which they draw 
nigh to God. He is zealous for the truth, because in 
this he sees the lineaments of the Divine character, and 
by it he is transformed into the Divine likeness. He 
mourns over his sins with ingenuous sorrow because 
they are odious in the sight of God. and disqualify him 
for his service and the enjoyment of communion with 
him; he diligently discharges every duty to his fellow 
men, because this is acceptable in the sight of God, and 
he is merciful as his Father in Heaven is merciful, for- 
bearing and forgiving in meekness and love, even as 
God for Christ's sake forgiveth him. 

"We may see in this subject that grace and glory are 
intimately connected, and that as a life of piety is a 
necessary preparation for the holy happiness of Heaven, 
so that happiness is the natural consummation of such 

16* 



358 SERMONS. 

a life. The joy of the just made perfect springs essen- 
tially from the knowledge of God and their delight in 
his service. It is his presence, and the unclouded 
manifestation of his glory that fills Heaven with holy 
joy and wonder. The object of desire, the source of 
joy to the child of God in this world, are preciselj T the 
same. The difference between him and his brethren 
who are made perfect in their Father's house, consists 
not so much in the nature of those devout breathings 
of the soul which are common to both, as in their com- 
parative fervor and constancy ; and as he grows in 
grace he approaches nearer and nearer to them. There 
are in these psalms strains of devotion that bear no 
unhappy resemblance to the songs of the ransomed of 
the Lord in the Heavenly Zion, and the brightest pass- 
ages in the believer's earthly pilgrimage, and the holiest 
emotions of his soul, are near akin to those of his breth- 
ren in the skies. They are indeed as the first fruits to 
the fall harvest, as the earnest of the inheritance to its 
complete possession, as the fore-taste to the eternal 
banquet. The same sun sheds light and joy upon both, 
though to the one his beams are like the dawning 
morn, while on the other they pour cloudless and end- 
less day ; and as we can scarcely discern a difference 
between the light of the rising sun, and that of the 
same glorious luminary when fully risen, so the closing 
scene of the believer's earthly pilgrimage is often gilded 
with celestial radiance, and the transition is brief and 
£asy. 



SERMON XXL 

THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL A MISSIONARY 
PRINCIPLE. 

" We also believe, and therefore speak" — 2 Cor. iv. 13. 

The missionary zeal of the primitive Christians was 
not romantic or extravagant ; it did not owe its origin 
or its support to their peculiar circumstances ; it had no 
necessary connexion with those miracles by which, at 
its promulgation, the Gospel received the seal and stamp 
of Divine authority. 

In all their efforts to publish the Gospel, they did but 
exemplify the truths which were spirit and life to their 
own souls. " They believed, and therefore spake." This 
is the simple explanation of that devotion to the cause 
of missions which cheerfully forsook ease, wealth, kin- 
dred, reputation, for the promotion of that cause ; count- 
ed life itself cheap in comparison with it. They were 
missionaries because they were Christians. 

In the context Paul speaks of his toils, self-denials, 
and sufferings, in the prosecution of his work as a mis- 
sionary to the heathen. In the text he tells us why he 
thus toiled, and denied himself, and suffered. It was 
because he believed the Gospel he published ; his own 
soul rested for salvation on that Saviour whose power 
and grace he made known to others ; his missionary 
zeal was an essential element of his spiritual life ; it 
was identified with his very being as a sinner pardoned 
and regenerated by the grace of Christ. To believe 
with the heart unto righteousness, and with the tongue 



360 SERMONS, 

to testify of Jesus and salvation to the perishing, seemed 
to him to be so related that one could not exist in the 
absence of the other. He was a missionary just because 
he was a Christian. He believed, and therefore spake. 

Have we received the same Gospel ? Do we build 
on the same foundation our hopes of eternal life ? 
That Gospel is missionary in its principles, in its spirit, 
and in its object. That faith will not suffer us to be 
silent ; if we believe we shall therefore speak. 

Let us consider this topic — The missionary character 
of saving faith ; or, the faith of the Gospel a mission- 
ary principle. 

Look, in illustration of it, at the great objects of faith, 
the truths believed. 

God, the eternal, uncreated fountain of being and 
blessedness, infinite and unchangeable, supreme in 
power, in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth! 

Man, made in the image of God, endowed with capa- 
cities to know him, to love him, to obey him, to enjoy 
his favor, to show forth his praise, and under his ap- 
proving smile make everlasting advances in know- 
ledge, holiness, and bliss ; but fallen from his high es- 
tate, an alien from his Maker's love, an outcast from his 
fellowship! under the curse of a broken law! under 
the bondage of selfish passions and appetites ; dark, 
guilty, depraved, polluted, wretched ; filling up with 
sins and sorrows a brief term of probation, and hasten- 
ing to the grave — and the untried scenes that lie beyond 
the grave — with no fitness for Heaven, and no hope of 
a blessed immortality ! 

Eedemption from the ruins of his apostasy, provided 
at an infinite expense by the boundless compassion of 
God, the Eternal Father not sparing his own Son, but 
delivering him up for us all. The Eternal Son assum- 
ing our nature, bearing our sins in his own body on the 



FAITH A MISSIONARY PRINCIPLE. 361 

cross, rising from the dead to give assurance of his 
power to save, and able to save to the uttermost all 
them that came unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth 
to make intercession for them ! 

The Eternal Spirit bearing his appropriate part in 
this work of mercy, accompanying the Gospel with his 
life-giving power, renewing the pardoned sinner after 
the image of Christ, and educating him for the service 
of God on earth, and the holy joys of his presence in 
eternity ! 

These are the great outlines of that Gospel which 
the Christian believes, and on which he relies, as the 
hope of his soul ! 

Under this economy of mercy God has put a fallen 
world ; its provisions are ample for the salvation of all 
men ; none are excluded from its invitations ; its calls 
are to men of every clime, and age, and character, for 
there is no difference ; all have sinned and come short 
of the glory of God ; and the same Lord over all is 
rich unto all that call upon him. 

This Gospel so necessary for all men, so adapted to 
the condition of all men, so ample for the salvation of 
all men, he has committed to his people, not for them- 
selves only, but as trustees for their perishing brethren, 
with his express command, " Go ye into all the world, 
and publish the good news to everj^ creature ;" and his 
promise, " Lo ! I am with you always." 

That sinful men may partake of this redemption 
wrought out for them at such expense, they must call 
■upon the name of the Lord ; and " whosoever shall call 
upon him shall be saved ;" but how shall they call 
upon him in whom they have not believed? and how 
shay they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? 
and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how 



362 SERMONS. 

shall they preach except they be sent (literally, mis- 
sionaries) ? 

By the agency of men must this redemption be im- 
parted to their fellow men. God has appointed no 
other means to make it known than the prayers and 
the efforts of his people. a Ye are the light of the 
world, ye are the salt of the earth." Pardoned sinners are 
the selected almoners of Divine mercy to their fellow sin- 
ners ; freely they have received, freely must they give ; 
the hopes of a world are suspended on their fidelity 
and diligence ; every one of them partakes in this fear- 
ful responsibility ; from this high privilege not one is 
excluded ; and the time for action is short. Soon the 
lips that should tell of the love of Christ will be silent, 
and the ears that should listen to the glad tidings sense- 
less and cold ; and the hand that should minister to the 
perishing powerless and motionless. Whatever the 
Christian would do for the glory of his Redeemer in the 
salvation of his fellow men must be quickly done. To 
the grave, to the bar of the Supreme Judge, to the re- 
tributions of eternity, he and all his contemporaries are 
passing rapidly away ; each year as it passes bears with 
it to eternity 25,000,000 out of the unevangelized world. 

Xow I ask, can a man believe these things and not 
speak of them ? Will not every feeling of common 
humanity impel him to publish them ? Can he with- 
hold from his fellow men information so vital to their 
happiness ? When he looks abroad on a world perish- 
ing in ignorance and sin, will he dare to suppress such a 
message from Heaven ! When he hears the command of 
Christ, " Go preach my Gospel to every creature; free- 
ly ye have received, freely give," can he be silent? 
How can he hope for any part in this salvation for him- 
self, while he disobeys the command of God to make it 



FAITH A MISSIONARY PRINCIPLE. 363 

known ? How dare he celebrate the death of Christ at 
his table, if he is not doing what he can to publish it 
to every creature ? Surely if we believe we shall there- 
fore speak ; if we are Christians we shall be missiona- 
ries ! Is it not so ? 

But the faith of the Gospel is not merely an intelli- 
gent conviction of these truths ; nor is it simply a specu- 
lative assent to them. 

It is more, far more ; with the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness. The believer apprehends the ob- 
jects of faith in their importance and excellence as well as 
in their truth, and he evidently receives and approves 
them in their application to himself and to others, and, 
therefore, his faith is a missionary principle. If he thus 
believes he must speak. 

It is the definition of faith that to the truths believed 
it gives a substantial and a present reality. To the be- 
liever they are not matters of speculation, they are not 
a theory, abstract and cold, however sublime and beau- 
tiful ; nay, they are facts, palpable and weighty ; they 
are realities, living and powerful ; they take hold of his 
affections ; they move him and govern him as princi- 
ples of action. The glory of God, the original dignity 
and the present degradation and ruin of man, redemp- 
tion by the expiatory death of the Son of God, applied 
by the power of the Holy Ghost, received by a cordial 
trust in the Redeemer, the power and glory of Christ, 
the worth of the soul, the evil of sin, salvation or per- 
dition awaiting each individual reception or rejection 
of the Saviour, human agency as real, as important in 
these momentous interests as in the every day transac- 
tions of the life that now is, his own obligation and re- 
sponsibility thus connected with the destiny of his fel- 
low men, interwoven and inseparably bound up with 
their everlasting happiness or misery, as God has com- 



S6i SERMONS. 

mitted to him a message pregnant with their salvation 
or perdition, — these weighty and solemn truths the be- 
liever beholds and receives as substantial and present re- 
alities ; he feels their power in their application to him- 
self; he hides them in his heart; they are his princi- 
ples of action, the living spring of his emotions, the 
foundation of his hopes ; in their light he sees the life 
that now is, and the life that is to come ; he looks 
abroad upon the world ; he looks upward to his God 
and Saviour; he looks onward to the last judgment, 
and to the joys and sorrows of eternity. Thus his faith 
is the substance of things hoped for, the demonstration 
of things not seen. 

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak- 
eth. If these things fill the mind and heart of the be- 
liever, can he forbear to speak of them to others? Can 
he hold them in unrighteousness, and not publish them 
to his fellow men ! How insignificant are all the earthly 
fortunes of men compared with their ruin by sin, and 
their redemption by the blood of Christ! How vain 
all the joys and sorrows of the present life compared 
with the bliss or the anguish of eternity ! Of how lit- 
tle importance any influence or agency of the believer 
that terminates on the shadows of earth and time, com- 
pared with the diffusion of that knowledge of Christ by 
which souls are rescued from the eternal bondage of sin, 
and made heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ! 
How can the believer hesitate to make any sacrifice of 
ease, or wealth, or earthly reputation, that the Gospel 
may be published to those who have not heard the glad 
tidings, when he realizes the worth of the soul, the price 
paid for its redemption, and the blessedness and glory 
that await the ransomed sinner in eternity ! How can 
he prefer his own ease, or wealth, or reputation, to the 



FAITH A MISSIONARY PRINCIPLE. 365 

eternal welfare of his fellow men, and the glory of 
Christ in their salvation ! 

All the great objects of faith are so many motives to 
missionary efforts, motives of surpassing weight and 
power ; and in proportion as the believer apprehends 
them in their majesty and excellence, and appreciates 
their bearings and relations, he feels that he must make 
them known to others, that he must publish them, so far 
as in him lies, to all ! He believes, and therefore speaks. 
He is a missionary in spirit, and effort, and prayer, be- 
cause he is a Christian. 

And this objective power of faith, as a missionary 
principle, coincides with the relations to the Saviour 
and to his fellow men, into which the believer is brought 
by faith, and the influence faith exerts on his character. 
Eeceiving Christ as his Saviour, relying on him for sal- 
vation, he becomes identified with the interests and the 
power of Christ ; he lives no longer to himself, but to 
him that died for him and rose again. The Spirit of 
Christ dwells in him ; the love of Christ constrains 
him; he receives of Christ's fulness; for him to live is 
Christ. By faith he is brought into intimate union and 
sympathy with Christ in those views, and feelings, and 
purposes, which led him when he was rich for our sakes 
to become poor, that we through his poverty might be 
made rich, and for which he endured the cross, despis- 
ing the shame, and is set down at the right hand of 
God. 

Was Christ a missionary ? Did he come from Hea- 
ven to earth on an errand of love? Did he made infi- 
nite sacrifice that he might preach the Gospel to the 
poor, and submit to infinite self-denial and suffering for 
the salvation of the lost? The believer, in proportion 
as his faith is genuine and vigorous, has the same mind 
that was in Christ, and walks as Christ also walked. 



366 SERMONS. 



When he tastes the joy of pardoned sin, and feels the 
tie of grateful love that binds his obedient heart to him 
who has redeemed him by his blood, no impulse is more 
powerful and universal than that which prompts him 



to exclaim — 



" Oh, that all might believe, 
And salvation receive, 
And their hope and their joy 
Be the same." 



His faith worketh by love ; love to his Saviour, in 
whom, though now he sees him not, yet believing he 
rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory ; love to 
souls for whom Christ died ; love to that cause for 
which Christ rose, and ever lives to intercede ; love to 
that kingdom over which Christ reigns, and with whose 
prosperity and ultimate universal triumph the honor, 
the glory of God in the whole work of the redemption, 
and the temporal and eternal happiness of men are for 
ever bound up and identified. 

Such is the subjective power of faith over the heart 
and life ; and can he, who thus with the heart believes 
unto righteousness, fail to speak of Jesus and salvation 
to his fellow men ! Can he thus rob Christ of his glorj^, 
and them of that salvation Christ purchased with his 
blood ! Nay, if such should keep silent, methinks the 
very stones would cry out. If we believe, we shall 
therefore speak ; if we are Christians, we shall be mis- 
sionaries ! Is it not so ? I speak as unto wise men ; 
judge ye what I say. Thus faith wrought in those who 
saw the glory of Christ when he dwelt among men : — 
In Andrew, who, when he listened to his word, sought 
his own brother Simon and said, " We have found the 
Christ;" in the woman of Samaria, to whom he had no 
sooner revealed himself at Jacob's well, than, leaving 



FAITH A MISSIONARY PRINCIPLE. 367 

there her watering pot she went away into the city and 
said, " Come see a man that told me all things that ever 
I did ; is not this the Christ V in the deaf, and dumb, 
and blind, who, when he had healed them, the more he 
charged them not to make him known — so much the 
more a great deal did they publish his power and grace. 
Thus, pre-eminently, faith wrought in the primitive 
church, after that Jesus, having commanded them to go 
into all the world and publish his Gospel to every crea- 
ture, had ascended to Heaven, and they had received 
the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, when Peter and John replied to the great coun- 
cil of the nation, straightly threatening them, and com- 
manding them to speak no more in his name : " We 
cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard ;" 
and when, afterwards, they had been beaten, and the 
command repeated, they rejoiced that they were count- 
ed worth to suffer shame for his name, and daily in the 
temple and in every house ceased not to teach and to 
preach Jesus Christ ; when by persecution scattered 
abroad, the disciples went everywhere preaching the 
word. Saul of Tarsus had no sooner received forgive- 
ness than straightway in the synagogues he preached 
Christ that he is the Son of God ; from the church in 
Thessalonica, feeble and suffering persecution, the word 
of the Lord sounded out through Macedonia and Achaia, 
and the region round about ; and Christians at Philippi 
shone as a light in the world, holding forth the word of 
life ; and each church, planted amid the wastes of super- 
stition and idolatry, was a fountain of living water, 
gushing out in the desert, causing the wilderness and 
the solitary place to be glad, and the desert to rejoice 
and blossom as the rose. Thus it will be again if the 
spirit of primitive piety returns once more to the 
church, and a new Pentecost shall bring with it, upon 



368 SERMONS. 

ministers and Christians, another baptism of the Holy 
Ghost and of fire. 

Thus faith wrought as a missionary principle in primi- 
tive Christians; does it thus work in us? They be- 
lieved and therefore spake! We believe the same 
truths, and with the heart unto salvation — such is our 
profession — do we therefore speak ? Here is a test of 
character ; here a criterion of the genuineness of faith, 
a measure of its strength. So much as there is of the 
spirit and the work of missions in a denomination of 
Christians, in a single church, in a Christian family, in 
an individual believer, so much is there of that living 
faith which unites the soul to Christ, and receives 
eternal life as the gift of God in him. If our faith 
does not impel us to prayer and effort for the diffusion 
of the Gospel where Christ is not known, assuredly we 
have embraced another gospel than that in which primi- 
tive believers rejoiced, or we hold the truth in unright- 
eousness, and have need that one teach us again which 
be the first principles. 

See what is needed to call forth the resources of the 
church for the publication of the Gospel through the 
world. There is no lack of motives to enlist in this 
work the hearts and hands of all who love the Saviour, 
and to hold them to it in an earnest, persevering deter- 
mination that the utmost power of prayer and effort 
shall be put forth to publish salvation in every language 
and to every family on earth, ere the present generation 
passes into eternity. The Providence of God has re- 
moved obstacles, broken down opposition, multiplied 
means and facilities, so that an open door is set before 
us to publish the glad tidings to the ends of the earth. 
In many lands the Holy Spirit seems to have antici- 
pated our obedience to the commands of Christ, wak- 
ing up expectation of change and inquiry after truth 



FAITH A MISSIONARY PRINCIPLE. 369 

among nations spell-bound for ages. What then is 
wanting? Faith! faith! But alas! shall our unbelief 
render commands and promises of none effect? shall it 
harden the hearts of Christians against the love of 
Christ, who laid down his life for the world's redemp- 
tion ? Do we believe that the heathen are perishing ? 
that beside the name of Jesus there is no other under 
Heaven, given unto men, whereby a sinner can be 
saved ; that his Gospel, attended by the Holy Ghost, 
is the power of God unto salvation everywhere and al- 
ways ; and do we believe that nothing is now wanting 
but the prayers and efforts of those who love the Gos- 
pel, so to spread and multiply its triumphs, that wher- 
ever sin now reigneth unto death, grace shall reign 
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ 
our lord. Do you thus believe ? Then speak. 



SERMON XXII. 
THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 

"None of us liveth unto himself." — Romans xiv. 7. 

Selfishness reigns in our fallen world. Unrenewed 
men seek their own ; they live unto themselves, not for 
the good of their fellow men. To this supreme selfish- 
ness, Christianity is the perfect counterpart. Its motto 
is glory to God in the highest, good will towards men ; 
its first lesson, deny thyself ; its general object to write 
upon every heart the law of love. In its great Author 
it exhibits the perfect model of self-denying love ; it 
enjoins sympathy with him, and a willing conformity 
to his example as the test of our interest in him, and 
the expression of our gratitude for his love to us. "If 
any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his." 

With supreme selfishness the gospel makes no terms ; 
it admits no compromise ; it requires for God the whole 
heart, the whole man. And this not for a season only, 
but for ever ; not merely in sentiment and theory, but 
to be embodied and set forth in our daily plans, aims, 
and actions : " Ye are not your own ; ye are bought 
with a price ; therefore glorify God in your bodies and 
with your spirits which are his/' " None of us," saith 
the apostle, "liveth to himself; for whether we live 
we live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we die unto 
the Lord ; whether therefore we live or die we are the 
Lord's." 

On the other hand, he whose supreme desire and 
ruling purpose it is, to please and honor Christ, who 



THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 3ll 

forms his plans, shapes his pursuits, governs his own 
spirit, and regulates all his concerns, in subordination 
to this as the great end of life, liveth not unto himself. 
Whatever may be his situation, whether the means he 
possesses or the influence he exerts, are great or small, 
he liveth unto the Lord ; he hath the mind of Christ ; 
Christ is in him, the hope of glory ; and when Christ 
who is his life shall appear, then shall he also appear 
with him in glory. 

See here, my brethren, the principle which divides 
the world into two parties. Behold the separating line 
on whose opposite sides men now stand, and will stand 
at the judgment seat of Christ. Mark the grand dis- 
tinction which will endure, when death's cold wave 
obliterates all the titles men have written on the sands 
of time — the unerring test by which each of you may 
know to-day whether you are righteous or wicked, a 
friend or an enemy of God, an heir of Heaven, or a son 
of perdition. The question is not whether you profess 
religion, whether you stand fair among your fellows, 
whether your way seemeth right in your own eyes ; but 
the question is, what do you aim at ? What object do 
you habitually pursue? What is, day by day, your 
ruling purpose? Do you live unto yourself? Then 
you cannot be a Christian ; for no Christian liveth to 
himself. Do you deny yourself, and live unto him who 
died for you and rose again ? Do you desire to please 
him and seek to honor him as the great business of life ? 
This is Christianity, and you are a Christian, a child of 
God, an heir of glory ! 

Admit now, that it is your deliberate choice, and your 
fixed intelligent purpose, to live unto the Lord : let us 
examine the practical operation of this principle : what 
will be its influence on your conduct ? — how will you 
act it out from day to day ? 



3*72 SERMONS. 

No doubt you will walk in Christ's steps ; you will 
imitate Christ's example ; you will labor, and pray, and 
deny yourself to promote the same ends for which 
Christ laid aside his glory, endured the contradiction of 
sinners, toiled and laid down his life. 

But he came into the world to seek and to save the 
lost! He was lifted up on the cross that he might 
draw all men unto him. The great object for which he 
lived, what was it ? The glory of God in the salvation 
of men. And this he sought by what means ? — By the 
influence of a holy example, by unwearied diligence in 
making known the Gospel, and by fervent, unceasing 
prayer. 

Here, then, is the end for which you will live ; here 
the work in which you will labor if you live unto 
Christ, that you may promote the glory of God in the 
present and eternal good of your fellow men ! And 
here are the specific means by which you will seek to 
accomplish this great end for which you live, by diffus- 
ing around you the light and power of a holy example, 
by diligent self-denying efforts to make known the sav- 
ing truths of the Gospel to those who know them not, 
and by fervent prayer for the abundant influences of 
the Holy Spirit, to make the Gospel the power of God 
unto salvation. 

This object you will place distinctly before your mind, 
and hold it there as the mark at which you aim ; in your 
closet, in your family, in the social circle, in your daily 
business, in every sphere of duty or privilege where 
the Lord calls you to serve him, you will plan and labor 
for this end, just as the covetous man plans and toils 
for wealth, the ambitious man for power and honor, the 
votary of pleasure for sensual indulgence, the student 
for literary fame, or the worldly-minded physician or 
lawyer for professional eminence and emolument. So 



THE MISSIONARY BriRIT. 3*73 

if you live unto the Lord you will do all you can that 
the Gospel of Christ may be made known to all men as 
speedily as possible, and everywhere may be the power 
of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation. 

This great principle will lead you to prayer, effort, 
and self-denial, that you may be holy in all manner of 
conversation, being filled with the Spirit of Christ, hav- 
ing his word dwelling in you richly in all wisdom, that 
you may be furnished to every good work, let your 
light shine, and be an epistle of Christ, known and read 
of all men. 

Then it will lead you to labor and pray, first for the 
salvation of your children and the members of your 
own family, over whom God has given you an influence 
he has given to no one else, and whose eternal happi- 
ness depends more upon your agency than on that of 
any other person. 

Then it will lead you to seek the holiness, usefulness, 
and comfort of believers, and the salvation of sinners 
all around you, as far as you can exert a direct personal 
influence. It will prompt to personal effort for the 
salvation of men in the Sabbath School, the tract dis- 
tribution, and by faithful, affectionate exhortation to 
neighbors and friends. 

But is this all ? Will your love to him who redeemed 
you with his own blood, and your sympathy with him 
in his zeal for God, and his compassion for dying men 
— will they allow you to stop here? Will they not 
bear you forth in your desires, and prayers, and efforts, 
beyond your own family, or neighborhood, or country ? 
You look upon men everywhere as your brethren, par- 
takers of the same nature, involved in the same sad 
and guilty apostasy from God, heirs of the same im- 
mortal being, passing on with you to the judgment seat 
of the holy God, and the righteous retributions of eter- 

17 



374 SERMONS. 

nity. You look abroad, and behold the whole world 
lying in wickedness : its apostate population groaning 
beneath the curse, living and dying under the weighty 
power of superstition, error, and sin. You know that 
Jesus Christ is able and willing to save unto the utter- 
most all that come unto God by him ; and that there 
is no salvation in any other. You know that he has 
commanded his people to publish his gospel to every 
creature, and promised in this work to be with them 
always, and, by pouring out his Spirit upon all flesh, to 
restore the ruins of the fall, and make the wilderness as 
Eden, and the desert as the garden of the Lord ! Surely 
then, if you have the Spirit of Christ, if you live unto 
him who died for you, you will labor for the salvation 
of men everywhere. 

"We believe," said the apostle, "and therefore 
speak ;" and he who believes these weighty, soul-stirring 
truths must speak ; he cannot keep silent. Your zeal 
and compassion will not be confined by any limits less 
extensive than the ravages of sin ; nor will your be- 
nevolence be more circumscribed than the provisions 
and promises of the gospel. You will live for the con- 
version of the world. You will do all you can to send 
the gospel, as soon as possible, to every creature ; and 
that it may go everywhere in the demonstration of the 
spirit and of power. Nor will you cease from solici- 
tude, prayer, and effort, while there remains one dark 
region of the globe unblessed by the light of life, or one 
barbarous tongue in which the story of redeeming love 
has not been told, or one habitation of man from which 
no song of praise to the Lamb that was slain has ever 
gone up to Heaven. 

It may be your duty to leave all that is familiar and 
precious in your native land, and go forth in person, to 
tell of Jesus and salvation through his blood to besotted 



THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 375 

and perishing idolaters. If so, this principle will con- 
strain you, as it did the followers of Christ in primitive 
times, to leave all at his command, and for his name's 
sake to go forth among the Gentiles, not counting your 
life dear unto yourself, if you may finish your course 
with joy. 

But if you are not called thus to consecrate yourself 
to the toils and perils of a foreign mission, you will not 
on that account be less truly or less earnestly engaged 
in laboring for the world's conversion. The spirit of 
missions is one and the same in the messengers who go 
out, and in the churches that send them forth, and by 
whose prayers and contributions they are sustained. 
There is as fair an opportunity and as urgent a call to 
live unto Christ for the world's conversion, in the 
churches at home, as in the missionary stations among 
the heathen. Self-denial and sacrifices for this object 
are as truly needed, on our part, as on that of our breth- 
ren. Nay, at this time, the most obvious defect in the 
whole system of means, for spreading the gospel through 
the world, is in the churches at home. Here is the 
point of severe pressure at this hour. The work abroad 
languishes because Christians at home do not sustain it 
by their contributions and their prayers. Laborers who 
are ready to go, and whose services seem indispensable 
in fields white to the harvest, are now detained ; and it 
is necessary to curtail the means of usefulness of those 
already abroad, and to leave ungathered the ripened 
fruits of past labors, for want of funds. 

And who can say how far the worldliness, and con- 
tention, and restraining of prayer for this cause, so 
prevalent in the churches, shuts the windows of Heaven, 
and prevents those showers of blessing, which, if we did 
but ask for them in a true missionary spirit, would de- 



3*76 SERMONS. 

scend upon the desert and the solitary place, causing 
them to bud and blossom as the rose. 

We cannot expect great prosperity at our missions 
abroad, until there is far more of self-denying love and 
prayerful zeal in the churches at home. For it is the 
purpose of Christ not merely to save the world by the 
agency of his people, but to do it in such a way as shall 
most signally purify and bless his church. He has 
made redeemed sinners the almoners of his saving 
mercy to their fellow sinners, that he may thus draw 
them into more intimate union and communion with 
himself, teach them to enter into his plans, to sympa- 
thize in his purposes, to breathe his Spirit, and to walk 
in his footsteps, till they are made perfect in his like- 
ness, and meet to dwell in his presence, to behold and 
share his glory, and show forth his praise. For this 
reason his revealed plan calls for all the energies of his 
people in this work. He has something for every one 
to do. He invites the feeblest and humblest of those 
whom he has redeemed with his blood, and made them 
kings and priests unto God, to. be co-workers with him 
in this enterprise, which involves the glory of Grod, the 
best interest of the universe, and the consummation of 
the purposes of everlasting love and mercy. 

Yes, fellow disciple, you may live unto him who died 
for you, in helping on the very work for which he died, 
however humble your powers, or the sphere in which 
you move. For the world's conversion you may labor 
acceptably and usefully every day in your closet, and 
in your family, in the circle of your acquaintances and 
friends, and in the diligent pursuit of your lawful 
calling, be it in the counting-house, or the market, or 
the work-shop, or on your farm, or in the domestic cir- 
cle, or while you ply your needle or your pen. Your 



THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 377 

influence may be felt like the dew of Heaven, among 
the millions of idolatrous Asia, or the benighted tribes 
of dark and deeply injured Africa, or the far distant 
isles of the sea. Your circumstances cannot excuse 
you from bearing a part in the blessed work. I know 
an aged widow in humble circumstances, whose health 
is infirm, a member of one of the largest churches, who 
does more, and has done more for years, than any other 
member in the same church. 

God will hear you when, like Simeon or Anna of old, 
you wait for the consolation of Israel, pouring out your 
heart unto him in unceasing prayer. He will accept 
you, when you consecrate to him, for the promotion of 
his cause, the fruits of diligence, economy, and self- 
denial. He will smile upon you, when with a heart 
full of love to him, and faith in his promises, you lay 
upon his altar your gift, the fruit and expression of 
that love, though it be small. He will bless you when, 
sweetly constrained by his love in redeeming your soul 
from death, your eyes from tears, and your feet from 
falling, you write upon your time, your talents, your 
property, your influence, all that he has intrusted to 
you : " Holiness to Jehovah ! dedicated to him who 
redeemed me by his blood, for the honor of his name, 
in the salvation of the world !" 

In many instances, in our own day, the spirit of mis- 
sions has shone as brightly in those who have lived 
unto Christ for this work at home, as in those who 
have toiled and died among the heathen. The names 
of Goodell, and Bissel, and Evarts stand registered on 
high, with those of Hall, and Martyn, and Fisk, as ser- 
vants of Christ and benefactors of mankind. And 
when the world's redemption is complete, and the pur- 
poses of Divine mercy are consummated, they will 
rejoice together in the blessed result; and sweetly 



SlS SERMONS. 

mingle their thanksgiving to him who permitted them 
to be fellow laborers in it. And the hour which shall 
witness the full power and prevalence of the missionary 
spirit in the church at home will not long precede those 
predicted triumphs of redeeming love that usher in 
the grand jubilee of the universe. 

From this subject we learn, first, the spirit of missions 
is the genius of Christianity. It is not something in its 
nature rare and extraordinary, having an arbitrary and 
incidental connexion with true piety, or created and 
cherished in the hearts of a few, by some uncommon 
operation of the Holy Ghost. No, my brethren ; it is 
the genuine impression of those great truths which the 
Spirit of God always employs when he renews a sinner 
after the image of Christ; the proper fruit of those 
Divine influences without which no man ever called 
Jesus the Lord, in sincerity and truth ; the spontaneous 
expression of that unreserved submission to Christ, and 
that affectionate self-consecration to him, which denote 
a sinner's acceptance of redemption through his blood ; 
the first fruits of that holy love in which the justified 
believer begins to sympathize with that loving Saviour 
who is his life. Zeal for the honor of God, and com- 
passion for the souls of men, dwell in that heart on 
which the Holy Ghost hath written in living characters 
the great law of love. And if they are not perverted 
by error, or chilled by covetousness, or paralysed by 
sloth and unbelief, they will go forth to save that which 
is lost; they will respond to the command, " Go preach 
the gospel to every creature," in prayers, and efforts, and 
sacrifices, to publish far and wide the glad tidings of 
great joy. Never did a pardoned sinner so taste the 
joys of salvation, as to sing with the spirit and the 
understandin g, — 

"How happy are they, who the Saviour obey," 



THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 379 

that lie did not add with a glowing heart — 

" Oh, that all might believe, 

And salvation receive, 

And their hope and their joy be the same." 

Again, it is the duty of all Christians to cultivate a 
missionary spirit. Just as it is the duty of all Chris- 
tians to grow in grace ; to become more and more like 
Christ ; to increase and abound in love to God, to 
one another, and to all men ; to cherish the temper of 
Heaven, put on its lineaments, and ripen for its society 
and its joys : just so it is their duty to cultivate a mis- 
sionary spirit ; for these are not different things, but one 
and the same. Christianity is in its very nature active, 
germinant, growing, expansive. In its relations to 
communities and to mankind, as well as in its relations 
to individuals, it is like the mustard seed, full of vitality, 
growing, active ; like leaven, penetrating, diffusive, 
assimilating ; like the stone cut out without hands, 
which became a great mountain and filled the whole 
earth. 

The work of missions is not the work of the Board, 
or of a particular society ; but of the whole church. 
The cause I plead to-day, brethren, is not my cause, but 
yours ; the cause of your Lord and Master, and of all 
who love him. Jesus Christ calls all his people to 
cooperate with him in the blessed work for which he 
died, and rose, and reigns. By his authority and his 
love, he has bound upon all hearts the obligation to 
preach his gospel to every creature. Obedience is 
essential to spiritual prosperity. The primitive church 
felt this, and acted accordingly. It was poor, despised, 
persecuted ; yet it was a great missionary society, where 
each member esteemed it a duty and a privilege to do 
all in his power to impart to all men the salvation in 



380 SERMONS. 

which he rejoiced. While this spirit lived and reigned 
in her members, the church shone in the beauty of holi- 
ness. Converts were multiplied as the drops of morning 
dew. No weapon formed against her could prosper. 
In the face of opposition, she went forward to the con- 
quest of the world with inexpressible energy and signal 
success. But ere long, pride and contention, world- 
liness and sloth crept in. The spirit of missions was 
lost, and a thousand years of darkness and spiritual 
desolation ensued. Thus it has ever been, thus it will 
be. Whenever the whole church is imbued with this 
spirit, and enters fully into this work, she will look 
forth, fair as the moon, clear as the sun. Her walls 
will be salvation, and her gates praise. The final tri- 
umphs of redeeming mercy will not then long be de- 
layed. Soon will voices be heard in Heaven, proclaim- 
ing, "The kingdoms of this world are become the king- 
doms of our Lord and of his Christ." 

Let every Christian then cultivate a missionary spirit 
in his own heart, and do all he can to promote the same 
spirit in his fellow Christians. Do this by obtaining 
and diffusing information on missions ; by secret and 
social prayer for the perishing heathen, and for those 
who have gone to testify among them of Jesus and sal- 
vation ; specially by a devout and regular attendance 
upon the monthly concert of prayer for missions ; by 
an example of cheerful and self-denying devotedness to 
this cause. In this work, you know not how much 
you may do by the blessing of God on your self-deny- 
ing, prayerful labors. And no honest effort made for 
this cause, can be lost, either as to its influence in 
helping onward the grand result, or its gracious reward 
in the great day of the Lord's coming. 

Finally, how great the blessedness of living unto 
Christ, in the great work of spreading his gospel through 



THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 381 

the world. The Christian whose heart is fixed upon 
this as the great business of life, is lifted above selfish 
and temporary pursuits, interests, and vexations. The 
glory of God, the love of Christ, the welfare of the 
undying soul, the realities of eternity, fill his mind and 
heart. He has fellowship with his exalted Lord, in the 
very purpose for which he reigns. He cooperates with 
the Eternal Spirit in those exhibitions of power, and 
wisdom, and mercy, which fill Heaven with everlasting 
praise. He walks with God, who so loved the world 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth on him, might not perish, but have everlasting 
life ; and who will have all men come unto him. How 
ennobling such employment, how honorable, how sanc- 
tifying, how full of the assurance and the foretaste of 
Heaven ! And then how great a good is secured by 
every successful effort in spreading the gospel through 
the world. Thus the world shall be converted to God. 
And to convert one sinner from the error of his way — 
what is it ? To save a soul from death ! an immortal 
soul ! Who can compute its worth ? Who can measure 
its joys as it pursues its boundless, endless career from 
glory to glory, and bliss to bliss. A deathless mind, 
rescued from ruin and raised to Heaven by God's bless- 
ing on your efforts, and in answer to your prayers ! 
What bosom does not swell with emotion at the thought ! 
What child of God does not bless his Heavenly Father 
who calls him to such a work ? What self-denial, or 
sacrifice, or suffering, deserves to be so much as named 
in the comparison ? An hour is coming, when to have 
been the honored instrument of such a work, to meet 
before the eternal throne a fellow immortal, redeemed 
through our humble agency from the dark debasing 
bondage of superstition and error, and made perfect in 
the Saviour's likeness, will be a source of purer joy, 

17* 



382 SERMONS. 

and of livelier gratitude to God, than if he had given 
us all the wealth and honors of the world, without 
calling us to such a work ! Lord, teach us to know 
our heavenly calling, and breathe into us its true 
spirit ! 



SEBMON XXin * 
THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT. 

" For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as tha 
waters cover the sea." — Isaiah xi. 9. 

If the waters of the ocean were suddenly drained, and 
the channels of the great deep laid bare, a rugged, un- 
seemly spectacle would meet the eye. The elements of 
sublimity and beauty might then be seen, but strangely 
disfigured, and blended in rude chaotic masses; pro- 
found valleys and dark ravines, the pathways of the 
monsters of the deep ; gloomy caverns, never visited 
by the light of day ; towering mountains, abrupt head- 
lands, and precipitous rocks, the cause of many disas- 
ters to the adventurous seaman ; would form an un- 
couth, repulsive scene. 

All these are hidden now by a veil which the Al- 
mighty has thrown over them ; he has covered them 
with a fluid, bright, transparent, elastic, filling all the 
depths, smoothing all the asperities, reducing mountains 
and valleys to one level, and spreading from the equa- 
tor to the poles, ever in motion, ever obedient to his 
will, whether he bids its mountain billows utter his 

* This was the last sermon preached by this devoted servant of 
Christ. It was marvellously preserved amid the raging of the elements, 
saturated by water, but left entirely legible, a solemn message to the 
church. Those who heard it in Newark two weeks previous to his 
death, will remember the tender earnestness with which it was deli- 
vered. One remarked, " he is ripening for Heaven." In Sixth Street 
Church, New York, where he often attended social meetings for prayer , 
the feeling was that Dr. Armstrong was doing his last work. 



384 SERMONS. 

praise in awful tones, or its unruffled surface reflect his 
glories to the tranquil heavens bending over it. 

Like the dark, rude bed of ocean, emptied of its 
waters, has been the moral aspect of our world in all 
ages and countries since the fall. If we look abroad 
over the nations to-day, what disorder, misery, and ruin, 
meet the eye and pain the heart ! 

But the text speaks of a blessed change to be realiz- 
ed ere long : of a coming day, when the earth shall be 
fall of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover 
the sea. In the preceding context, the prophetic pencil 
delineates a revolution, thorough, universal, permanent, 
and most benign ; the selfish passions and lawless appe- 
tites that have convulsed society for sixty centuries, are 
calmed and subdued ; violence and fraud, rapacity and 
cruelty, prevail no more ; no more do the strong prey 
upon the weak, nor the crafty plot for the ruin of the 
simple ; innocence, and peace, and mutual confidence 
reign ; the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the 
leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf, and 
the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little 
child shall lead them ; and the cow and the bear shall 
feed, their young ones shall lie down together ; and the 
lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the suckling child 
shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child 
shall put his hand on the adder's den, and they shall 
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the 
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
waters cover the sea ! 

Behold, my hearers, the cause of this marvellous trans- 
formation ! Consider the means by which this blessed 
change will be commenced, and carried on, and com- 
pleted : by the knowledge of himself everywhere 
spread abroad, and filling the whole earth, as the 
waters cover the sea, so will he who sitteth on the 



THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT. 385 

throne subdue, and purify, and renovate a fallen world, 
till he hath made all things new. 

All knowledge is valuable ; to be without it is not 
good. Shut up in ignorance, the spirit pines and fam- 
ishes ; error and falsehood are mental poison, working 
death ; all knowledge is from God, and leads to God ; 
he made the objects of knowledge; he adjusts and 
governs their relations; he gave the mind its power to 
know, he sustains its activity, he kindles its quenchless 
thirst ; the universe he has made is radiant with glory, 
and vocal in his praise to all holy intelligence. 

Not so to fallen man ; he likes not to retain God in his 
knowledge, and his foolish heart is darkened ; absorbed 
in sense, blinded by sin, he sees not God in all the beau- 
ties of creation, nor hears his voice in all its harmonies. 
Not from Nature's volume does the knowledge of the 
Lord shine on this dark world with enlightening, saving 
power ; nay, it must beam upon man from the page of 
revelation ; he must behold the glory of God as a sove- 
reign and a judge, a just God and a Saviour, shining in 
the face of Jesus Christ ; he must learn his holiness and 
grace, his truth and love, as God has made them radi- 
ant in the cross, resplendent in the plan of salvation, 
through the atoning blood of Christ, and by the renew- 
ing power of the Holy Ghost. This is the knowledge 
of the Lord of which the text declares, it shall fill the 
earth, breaking up the old bondage of sin and error, 
bringing in the reign of truth, and purity, and love. 
This is life eternal, that they might know the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. The 
knowledge of the Lord, in his pardoning mercy, in his 
sanctifying grace, in his covenant faithfulness and love 
— of God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 
— by his Gospel abolishing death, and bringing life and 
immortality to light ; of God as a friend, a father, a re- 



386 SERMONS. 

fuge in adversity and sorrow, a satisfying, eternal por- 
tion ! 

Fill the earth with this knowledge, and at once you 
shut out all false religion, and all irreligion ; idolatry 
with its dark and bloody rites ; superstition and fanati- 
cism, with their empty forms and vain austerities, degrad- 
ing the soul and kindling the fires of intolerance and bi- 
gotry ; every form, indeed, of superstition, infidelity, and 
atheism. No place can be found for these in a world 
that is full of the knowledge of the Lord. The millions 
that bow down to images of Boodh, or adore the count- 
less gods of Brahma 4 or mutter charms to obscene and 
cruel fetishes, or grope in Mohammedan delusion, or in 
the dim twilight of a corrupt Christianity, follow the 
traditions of men, and trust in priestly absolution, shall 
then walk in the light of the Lord ; they shall know 
the truth, and the truth shall make them free. 

Just imagine every dark shade of religious error dis- 
pelled and driven out of the world by the universal 
prevalence of the knowledge of the living and true God, 
and how changed would be the condition of men ! what 
a load of imposture, oppression, and suffering, would be 
at once thrown off ! from what depths of intellectual and 
moral degradation would man emerge ! what incentives 
to appetite and passion would be for ever quenched ! 
what fountains of suffering and sorrow for ever dried up ! 

But the knowledge of the Lord does not merely dis- 
pel the shades of night, and chase away the phantoms 
of guilt and fear that haunt the region of darkness and 
the shadow of death ! It does more, far more. By this 
knowledge the Divine Spirit puts forth his renewing 
and cleansing powers upon the heart, and the sinner is 
created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works ; sanctify 
them by the truth, thy word is truth ; the law of the 
Lord is perfect, converting the soul ; fill the' earth with 



THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT. 387 

the knowledge of the Lord ; and you teach men to love 
God, and to love one another. By this knowledge the 
enmity of the heart is slain ; man is reconciled to God ; 
he has peace of conscience ; he is at peace with his fel- 
low man ; the love of Christ constrains him, and he 
lives not unto himself; he seeks not his own; he is 
taught to dwell in love, forbearing and forgiving, if any 
man has a quarrel against any, even as God for Christ's 
sake hath forgiven him. Let this knowledge fill the 
earth ; let men everywhere receive it in the love of it, 
and its pure and peaceful influences will pervade and 
hallow all the relations of society ; they will inform 
and animate all systems of government, and all modes 
of administration ; they will bind communities and na- 
tions to each other in perpetual friendship, and unite 
and cement in one great lasting brotherhood, the whole 
family of man ! Then shall they beat their swords into 
ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks ; and 
the nations shall learn war no more. War, the science 
of devastation and murder, which in all ages has ab- 
sorbed such an amount of talent, and wealth, and labor, 
shall be obsolete and forgotten. The clanking of fet- 
ters, and the groans of the oppressed, shall be heard 
no more, for there shall be none to hurt nor to destroy. 
Exhausting toil, and pining want, and squalid poverty, 
shall cease, for labor shall have its reward, and the 
earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, 
shall bless us : God shall bless us, and all the ends of 
the earth shall fear him. 

Such fruits the knowledge of the Lord has yielded 
in our own day ! such influences the Gospel has put 
forth, and is now putting forth, on tribes of dark, de- 
graded men ; partially, I admit, and on a limited scale ; 
yet upon portions of the human family as abject and 
wretched as any other, and just in proportion as that 



SERMONS. 



knowledge has flown in upon tliem. Look, for illustra- 
tion, at the stupid G reenlanders and Esquimaux of the 
polar regions ; roused from their torpor, emerging from 
filth and wretchedness, they from habits of industry 
and forecast, acquire a taste for social comforts, and re- 
joice in the hope of Heaven. Look at the roaming 
savages of South Africa, now gathered into villages, 
cultivating their lands, cherishing the arts, making the 
desert smile, rejoicing in the endearments of domestic 
life, and in the anticipation of eternal bliss; see the 
bloodthirsty cannibal of New Zealand converting his 
weapons of war into implements of husbandry, learn- 
ing of the meek and lowly Saviour to love his enemies, 
and training up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord the children he was wont to dedicate at Moloch's 
shrine, an*d to familiarize from infancy to deeds of vio- 
lence and blood. The knowledge of the Lord has im- 
parted new life to the torpid mind, taught the sensual, 
down-trodden soul to pant after immortality, and tamed 
the vindictive, tiger-like spirit. 

Or select an individual, as an example of the change 
wrought in man by the knowledge of the Lord. All 
who are familiar with the history of missions in South- 
ern Africa, have heard of Christian Africaner. In his 
youth the chief of a Hottentot clan, then a slave to a 
border colonist, goaded to madness by oppression, he 
murdered his master, and fled into the interior ; there 
he became the leader of a band of robbers and murder- 
ers, and for years the scourge of the frontiers and the 
terror of Southern Africa ; a price was set upon his 
head, and company after company sought in vain to 
hunt him down. At length an intrepid missionary 
penetrated to his Kraal in the desert, bearing the mes- 
sage of Heavenly mercy. As that youthful servant of 
Christ sought the murderer's hiding place, he was looked 



THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT. 389 

upon as one devoted to death, and warned not to ven- 
ture into the tiger's den. But the love of Christ con- 
strained him, and he went onward ; he found that wild 
savage man ; he spoke to him of the love of God in 
giving his Son to die for sinners, and the compassion of 
Jesus in giving his life a ransom for the lost. Soon his 
attention was arrested ; light dawned on his dark mind ; 
his hard heart was melted and subdued, as he listened 
to the wonderful things revealed in the Word of Life. 
Whole nights he kept his youthful teacher ministering 
to his thirst for the knowledge of the Lord. That 
knowledge filled his soul, and his life became as remark- 
able for gentleness and love, as it had been for deeds of 
rapine and blood ; he became noted as a peace-maker 
far and near, amid the surrounding tribes, making long 
journeys to quiet their feuds, and rushing in between 
contending hordes, at the hazard of his life, to stay the 
shedding of blood. His people revered and loved him 
as a father ; his very countenance lost the traces of its 
wonted ferocity, and wore an expression of kindness, 
and the tear of pity trembled in his eye. Full of years 
and ripe for Heaven, his last hours were spent exhort- 
ing his people to live in peace, and to cherish the Gos- 
pel and the missionaries when he was gone. " Beware," 
said he, as they gathered round his dying couch, "that 
you do not fall into those sins into which I have often 
led you. My former life has been stained with blood, 
but Jesus Christ has pardoned me, and now he is tak- 
ing me to Heaven. Dwell in peace and love, and the 
God of peace shall be with you." 

This, brethren, is the knowledge of the Lord 1 What 
a world would this be if that knowledge were univer- 
sal, — if it filled the earth, as the waters cover the sea. 
But the mouth of the Lord hath spoken : a day is com- 
ing when none shall need to say to his neighbor, know 



390 SERMONS. 

the Lord ; for all shall know him, from the least to the 
greatest! Eight hundred years before this prophecy- 
was uttered, God had said by Moses, " As truly as I 
live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the 
Lord ;" and again by David, " All nations shall be 
blessed in Him : all nations shall call him blessed." 

Ages of sin and sorrow have gone by since these pro- 
mises were given, still darkness covers the earth, and 
gross darkness the people ! They worship idols with 
rites impure and bloody, and their sorrows are multi- 
plied. The dark places of the earth are full of the ha- 
bitations of cruelty, and the people perish because there 
is no vision ! But it shall not be ever thus ; ere long, a 
new era of light and love shall dawn on a benighted 
world ; the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea ; as the waters per- 
vade and fill up all the channels of the great deep, so 
the knowledge of the Lord shall penetrate every seclud- 
ed region, illumine every dark nook and retired corner, 
and shed its blessed radiance on every tribe and family 
of man ! Like the resistless swell of the mighty ocean, 
the tide of knowledge, and holiness, and peace, shall 
rise, and spread, and prevail, till it bathes every shore, 
and covers every continent and island, and rolls round 
the globe an unbroken wave of light, and love, and joy ! 

And this result shall be realized by the blessing of 
God on human agency. Not to angels did he say, 
" Ye are the light of the world," but to men redeemed 
by his blood, and called and taught by his Spirit. Not 
by working miracles did he send them forth to make 
disciples of all nations, but by preaching his Gospel to 
every creature ! His people are the trustees of his 
grace for their perishing brethren ; pardoned sinners 
are the almoners of his mercy for a ruined world ! Out 
of Zion shall go forth the law ; for many shall run to 



THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT. 391 

and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Here, in 
the Church of God, are the wells of salvation, whence 
they shall draw the living waters. 

And let it not be forgotten that all the effort and 
prayer which shall accomplish a revolution so vast and 
blessed, will be put forth by individuals ; all the agency 
employed will be personal agency ; all the prayer offer- 
ed, the self-denial practised, the sacrifices cheerfully 
made, the sufferings patiently borne, in filling the earth 
with the knowledge of the Lord, will be the tribute of 
the willing minds, and hearts, and hands of Christian 
men, and women, and children, each redeemed by the 
blood of Christ, each constrained by the love of Christ, 
each consecrating to the service of Christ a life that 
owes all its present joys, and its more precious hopes, 
to his dying love ! 

And thus does the grand result, in all its majesty 
and blessedness, connect itself with the intercessions of 
the humble disciple in his closet, and with the circles 
where those who love the Saviour meet to pour out 
their hearts in united prayer, and with the daily habits 
of economy, and acts of self-denial, by which the poor 
widow, and the devout laborer, and the pious child, 
treasure up their gifts for the altar of the Lord. These 
are the drops of rain that feed the fountains, and rills, 
and streams, and rivers, whose confluence is the mighty 
ocean, bright, transparent, joyous, covering this dark, 
rugged world, and reflecting the purity and the peace 
of Heaven ! 

Yes, my hearers, each of us may bear a part in this 
blessed consummation. If we have a heart for such a 
work ; if we are willing, in the sphere where God has 
placed us, to do what we can ; to labor and pray for 
this as the great end of life, according to the ability 
that God giveth ; each of us may contribute to swell the 



392 SERMONS. 

tide of light and joy that shall fill the earth, as the 
waters cover the sea ! Not one honest effort shall be 
unavailing, nor one fervent prayer unanswered, nor the 
humblest laborer forgotten in the mighty aggregate. 
Is there a nobler object for which to live ! 

In our day, God is calling us to this work by the 
voice of his Providence, and by the movements of his 
Spirit, not less than by the precepts and promises of his 
word. Every thoughtful observer must perceive, that 
preparation is making on a vast scale for changes, more 
extensive and momentous than the world has ever wit- 
nessed ! 

Facilities of intercourse bring the remotest nations 
into the same neighborhood ; commercial enterprise ex- 
plores the darkest regions, and studies the manners and 
habits of the most secluded tribes ; improvements in 
science and the arts levy contributions on the hidden 
stores of nature, and make the very elements subservi- 
ent to the will of man ; knowledge and truth are 
brought more and more into contact with ignorance 
and error ; and the infernal spells that have bound un- 
tutored nations for ages, lose their power. Already a 
spirit of inquiry, and a thirst for knowledge, and an ex- 
pectation of change, have gone forth to the ends of the 
earth, and the power of the press and of other means 
of education keep pace with the growing desire for in- 
struction. 

Every aggressive movement of the day finds its cen- 
tre and salient point in Christendom ; and pre-eminent- 
ly in that portion of Christendom that acknowledges 
the supremacy of the Bible, and prizes the knowledge 
of the Lord as the pillar of its most valued institutions, 
and the source of its best hopes. 

Meanwhile those vast systems of religious error that 
have so long overshadowed the nations, are everywhere 



THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT. 393 

waning and dying. Boodhism and Brahminism, and 
the delusions of Mohammed, still hold a nominal sway 
over more than half the population of the globe. But 
how changed their position ! how shorn of their power ! 
how tame and spiritless are they ! what missionaries do 
they send out ! which of their votaries dreams of mak- 
ing conquests ! Bereft of vigor and vitality, they are 
giant corpses, prostrate on the fields of their old re- 
nown, and soon to become an abhorrence and a hiss- 
ing where they were once adored ! 

Christianity, spurious or genuine, formal or spiritual, 
traditional or based on the Word of God, moulded and 
fashioned by human authority, or acknowledging Christ 
only as supreme, is evidently to conquer and reign over 
this world. 

And who, with the Bible in his hand, and looking 
at the changes that have taken place in the last half 
century, and the steady progress of knowledge, and 
free discussion, and liberty of conscience, can doubt 
which of these opposing systems shall -ultimately tri- 
umph ? Can the human mind relapse into the intel- 
lectual torpor of the dark ages ? and re-adopt the ex- 
ploded maxim that ignorance is the mother of devo- 
tion? 

Nay, my brethren, it cannot be. The man of sin 
shall be destroyed, and that wicked one who, in the 
very temple of God, exalts himself above all that is 
called God, and that is worshipped, shall be consumed. 
The knoicledge of -the Lord shall cover the earth ; the 
religion of the Bible shall fill the world ! 

In the sure prospect of such a consummation, and 
amid so many indications that it is drawing nigh, how 
great are the privileges, the obligations, the responsibi- 
lities of Christians in this land of civil and religious 
liberty, this land of churches, unfettered by alliance 



394 SERMONS. 

with the State, of Bibles, and Sabbaths, and revivals of 
religion ! Surely we are called to bear no common 
part in this blessed enterprise of filling the world with 
the knowledge of the Lord ! 



ADDEESS 

To the Society for Inquiry \ in the Theological Seminary 
at Bangor, 1836, u Why young men should become 
Missionaries. 1 ' 

In an address before a Society for Inquiry on the 
subject of Foreign Missions, I take it for granted that 
those to whom my remarks should be specially directed, 
believe themselves called to the ministry of recon- 
ciliation. 

Under such a conviction, you have entered upon a 
course of moral and intellectual culture and discipline 
with this object in view. Having expended time, labor, 
and money, in preparing for the work, you are inquir- 
ing where your services are most needed, and may most 
effectually promote the great object of the ministry. 
Your solicitude for a satisfactory reply to this inquiry 
increases as the time approaches in which you must go 
forth into the wide field. That field is divided into 
two great departments, the domestic and the foreign. 
These are distinct, though parts of the same, and mu- 
tually dependent. 

The work to be performed, the appropriate attain- 
ments and qualifications of the laborers, and the grounds 
of confidence that their labor shall not be in vain in the 
Lord, are essentially the same in both. 

My object is to present considerations in favor of 
personal consecration to the work of Foreign Missions. 
I do not say that these considerations ought to be deci- 



396 ADDRESS. 

sive with all who have not yet made up their minds, as 
to their field of labor. 

I will not assert that they ought to determine all 
who now hear me to go far hence to the Gentiles. In 
particular cases, there may be weighty reasons against 
going abroad. Of these I cannot judge in every case; 
so there may be substantial reasons why individuals 
should remain at home and labor together in the har- 
vest on the domestic field. Where such reasons exist, 
it is believed they are rarely overlooked. 

I wish to show that every student of Theology is 
bound to give the subject a serious and thorough ex- 
amination. That no man may innocently or safely 
enter the ministry, taking it for granted that he is not 
called to labor in the foreign field ; that the arguments 
■in favor of going abroad are such, and so many, as to 
deserve patient and prayerful attention. 

The ministerial commission, in its plain literal bearing 
and import, is wholly missionary : " Go make disciples 
of all nations:" "Go ye into all the world and preach 
the gospel to every creature." Such was the language 
of the great Head of the church when he instituted the 
ministry, and sent forth his servants to publish in his 
name the glad tidings of great joy. 

Their commission was missionary ; it bound them to 
do all they could that the gospel might be preached as 
speedily as possible in all the world, to every creature. 
While there remained a nation, or tribe, or family, that 
had never heard the joyful sound, it was unfulfilled. 
There is no other or different commission under which 
Jesus Christ calls any of us to preach the gospel. It 
lays the whole body of ministers of this generation 
under the same obligation that it imposed upon those 
to whom it was first given. If it required them to 
leave Judea and Galilee, (though doubtless there was 



ADDRESS. 397 

enough to be done there) and go out among the Gen- 
tiles, I see not why it does not require the very same 
of us. The whole prima facie bearing of the instrument 
is aggressive ; every man who acts under it is in fact a 
missionary. If he stays at home he is bound to give a 
reason for so doing. He that sends others abroad, must 
stay upon the principle that he can thus do most to 
spread the gospel through the world. Closely connected 
with this is another thought worthy of attention. Mi- 
nisterial labor in the foreign field, tends most directly 
to accomplish the great object for which the gospel 
ministry was instituted. That object is to publish the 
gospel to every creature ; to preach repentance and the 
remission of sins, in the name of Jesus, to all nations. 
Where the gospel is fully preached already this object 
is, in an important sense, accomplished. To some the 
doctrine of Christ crucified is foolishness, to others the 
power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation. 
But in both God is glorified. The heralds of salvation 
are, unto God, a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are 
saved, and in them that perish. Our business as evan- 
gelists is not to convert men, but to preach the gospel. 

When the glad tidings are fully proclaimed every- 
where, the heralds have fulfilled their commission. He 
who bears the message to a tribe or a family, or an 
individual who never heard it before, contributes to 
this end in a manner more direct and immediate than 
if he had labored with ever so much success in reiterat- 
ing the gospel call upon those who have often heard it, 
and made light of it. 

In this way also, the church is carried forward directly 
towards the great end for which she was formed, and is 
sustained, and blessed. What is that end ? Not solely 
nor chiefly for the growth of individual believers in 
holiness and consolation, and that, by social ordinances 

18 



398 ADDRESS. 

mutual sympathy, and succor, and all the sweet fellow- 
ship of kindred spirits, they may ripen for Heaven. 
These no doubt are blessed fruits of the communion of 
believers in the church. But the grand object for which 
they are thus associated is, that by their combined 
prayers and efforts, they may hold forth the word of 
life, bearing a distinct and commanding testimony for 
God amid the sins and errors of our apostate race: 
becoming in fact, what they are in the plan and pur- 
pose of the Great Kedeemer, the light of the world, and 
the salt of the earth. And when God is merciful to 
the church, and blesses her, and causes his face to shine 
upon her, it is that his way may be known upon the 
earth, his saving health among all nations. 

Now it is chiefly by the going forth of her sons to 
declare among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
Christ, and by the flowing out of the sympathies, 
prayers, and contributions of the people of God to en- 
courage and sustain them, and bring down a blessing 
upon their labors, that the church is carried forward 
toward the great end for which she exists. 

Her pastors may be many and faithful ; her doctrines, 
order, and discipline pure ; all within her borders may 
seem peaceful and prosperous ; but if she sends forth no 
messengers of mercy to the perishing, she is not ful- 
filling her high vocation, nor is she authorized to expect 
the smiles of Ler glorious Lord. It is by scattering, she 
is to increase; it is by devising liberal things that she 
must stand; she is more blessed in giving than in re- 
ceiving. When Israel bringeth forth fruit unto himself 
he is an empty vine. His glory is to blossom and bud 
and fill the face of the world with fruit. 

The fact that ministers of the gospel are most needed 
abroad, is another reason for personal consecration to 
the work of foreign missions. Other things being 



ADDRESS. 399 

equal, benevolence guided by wisdom will certainly- 
lead us first to that part of the field of labor whose ne- 
cessities are most urgent. But whatever may be the 
destitutions of our own country, nothing among us will 
bear a comparison either as to extent or extremity, with 
the spiritual wants of the unevangelized world. The 
number of the destitute abroad, is at a moderate calcu- 
lation, fifty times greater than the whole population of 
our country. And besides there is a living church and 
an evangelical minister to every twelve hundred souls 
in our whole population. Here are thousands of Sunday 
Schools, millions of Tracts, and a Bible for every family 
that will receive it, and the richest religious literature 
in the world. Here, the Lord's day, regularly occurring, 
reminds every one of God and Christ, the soul, and 
eternity. And ten thousand sanctuaries with open 
doors invite men to enter and worship Jehovah, where 
his name is recorded, and where he has promised to 
meet them that seek him, and commune with them 
from the mercy seat. There is no portion of our land 
where a sinner anxious for salvation may not obtain an 
answer to the inquiry, " What must I do to be saved?" 
Look abroad now over the vast regions where more 
than seven hundred and fifty millions of our fellow 
men are forming their characters and filling up their 
probation for eternity. Not a missionary nor a church, 
nor a Sabbath School on an average, for two millions 
of souls. Languages spoken by many millions into 
which the word of God has never been translated, nor 
a line of revealed truth ever published. Powerful na- 
tions not having a term to express that holiness without 
which no man shall see the Lord ; where no Sabbath 
has ever dawned, no sanctuary has ever been erected, 
no intimation ever given that " God so loved the world, 
as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 



400 ADDRESS. 

lieveth in him might not perish but have eternal life." 
Their spiritual condition is fitly represented by the 
prophet's vision, when the Spirit of the Lord led him 
forth, and he. beheld spread out in the open valley, in 
utter confusion and chaos, the bones of men bleaching 
in the sun and winds of Heaven, very many, and very 
dry. We hear it sometimes said there are heathen 
enough at home. I admit and deplore the ignorance, 
error, and irreligion that are sweeping so many into 
remediless ruin ; but this results from the wilful neglect 
of the proffered means of recovery and restoration. 
Their condemnation is that light has come into the 
world, and they love darkness rather than light. 

How different this from the starless midnight of su- 
perstition and delusion which reigns, and has reigned 
for so many ages, in sepulchral gloom over the unevan- 
gelized world. There the light of nature and reason 
is clouded and perverted by the devices of Satan, and 
the many inventions of wicked men. The consciences 
of men are torpid and powerless, for God is not in all 
their thoughts ; and even intellect, crushed and buried 
under mountains of falsehood and absurdity, seems to 
have lost all elasticity and vigor. Surely if the direst 
necessity may claim benevolent attention, if degradation 
and wretchedness may appeal to Christian compassion, 
the servant of Christ will feel that the cry of the heathen 
world, " Come over and help us," may not be slightly 
disregarded. 

And this the more, because, while such is the call 
for labor abroad, comparatively few go abroad. The 
whole number of ordained ministers who have gone out 
to the foreign field, since the formation of the A. B. C. 
F. M., is to the number in the churches at home nearly 
as one to eighty. While the number of souls for whom 
they labor is as fifty to one ; that is, the supply of minis- 



ADDRESS. 401 

ters at home, is to the supply abroad as four thousand 
to one ; and this while the field is the vjorld, while 
the provisions of the gospel are sufficient for all the 
perishing, and while the commission, under which every 
minister preaches, embraces the whole human family, 
and requires him to do all that in him lies to publish 
the glad tidings to every creature without delay. The 
gospel ministry, instituted for the world, and intrusted 
for the common benefit of mankind with a message in- 
finitely momentous to every creature, appears at this 
time, to the eye of him who takes in the world at one 
view, as if pent up and restricted to a corner ; the mem- 
bers of the nominal church often crossing each other's 
paths, and not unfrequently wasting time and strength 
in unprofitable rivalry and wicked contention, while 
the great mass of those to whom the gospel is sent are 
perishing for lack of vision, no man caring for their 
souls, no man pointing them to the Lamb of God. Is 
it any wonder that to so great an extent we labor in 
vain, and spend our strength for naught ? Is it strange 
that the whole number of additions from the world to 
evangelical churches in our land, ordinarily, is less, on 
an average, than five to each minister ; and in large 
sections of the church, for successive years, less, than 
that number ? If the field is the world, is it not very 
evident that many of us have mistaken as to the part 
of it in which the Lord calls us to labor ? And can we 
expect his blessing when we are not where he would 
have us to be ? And is not the fact, that up to this 
time so few comparatively have gone abroad, a reason 
why those who have not yet entered the work should 
look to the foreign field ? 

If so few comparatively go where the will of Christ 
is so plain, and the work is so great, and the necessities 
of our fellow men are so urgent, ought not every one 

18* 



402 ADDRESS. 

who enters the ministry to hesitate before he resolves 
to swell the number already so disproportionate of those 
who labor in the domestic field? Ought he not to 
have very clear convictions of duty, before he ventures, 
bearing as he does a message of mercy for the world, 
with a commission to publish it to every creature, to 
turn away from nine tenths of his fellow men, whose 
wants and woes call upon him with importunate ear- 
nestness, " Come over and help us?" 

Nay, brethren, allow me to inquire further, if these 
things are so ? Ought not many who have settled down 
in the churches, without any thorough previous inves- 
tigation of the question of personal duty as to foreign 
missions, to inquire whether they may not have mis- 
taken the Master's will ? — whether the Holy Spirit may 
not be saying of them, as he said of Paul and Barnabas 
while they ministered in the church at Antioch, " Sepa- 
rate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work where- 
unto I have called them ?" 

This leads to another remark : the good of the church 
at home requires that many more go to preach Christ 
among the heathen. This it does in various ways. 
Great temporal prosperity has ever been full of peril 
to the Church. Wealth, and ease, and honor, have pro- 
duced worldliness of spirit and sloth, luxury, and pride : 
thus preparing the way for strife and laxity of disci- 
pline and errors in doctrine, until churches, once flour- 
ishing, have become apostate and been given up of 
Grod ; having lost the savor of godliness, they have been 
cast out and trodden under foot. Perhaps there never 
was a time when temporal prosperity flowed in upon 
the professed followers of Christ in such a tide, as in 
our country, at the present time. The amount of wealth 
and worldly influence, in the hands of church members, 
is enormous and rapidly increasing. What shall save 



ADDRESS. 403 

the church from the disasters which heretofore have 
not failed to attend upon such temporal prosperity? 
disasters of whose near approach, we are not without 
many alarming symptoms already visible ! I answer, 
nothing but such a spirit of enlarged, active, self-deny- 
ing benevolence, diffused through the churches, as shall 
at once so fill the hearts of God's people as to shut out 
a proud and idolatrous complacency in their prosperity ; 
and at the same time so take hold upon their consciences, 
and enlist their warmest affections, as to make them 
feel both the sin and the folly of hoarding or squander- 
ing upon selfish gratifications, that property which God 
has intrusted to them as his stewards, to be expended 
for the promotion of his cause, in the salvation of their 
fellow men. But no object short of the evangelization 
of the world, is great, and noble, and arduous enough, to 
awaken, sustain, and give full exercise to such a spirit 
of benevolence. Either the churches of this land must 
be fully enlisted in the great w r ork of publishing the 
gospel through the world, as an object to be sought 
systematically and perseveringly by Christians of all 
ranks and conditions in life, or our worldly prosperity 
will be our ruin. Covetousness, pride, and vanity will 
speedily prepare the way for the prevalence of a cold, 
dead, orthodoxy, or of some specious form of baptized 
infidelity ; and the glory will depart from our Israel, 
the souls of our children and our children's children 
will wither and die, unless God, in severe mercy, sends 
upon us some wide and wasting national judgments, or 
permits the fires of persecution to be kindled. But no 
means are so effectual to awaken this deep and diffusive 
interest in the work of missions as the going forth of 
laborers. It was by the personal consecration to this 
w r ork, of Mills and his companions, that the churches 
were first excited to inquire into the claims of this cause, 



404 ADDRESS. 

and to pray and labor for it. And the progress of the 
work, in every part of the church, has been very much 
in proportion as the sons and daughters of Zion have 
willingly offered themselves to go far hence to the 
Gentiles. Their example and influence before they 
went forth ; their communications while toiling amid 
the desolations of heathenism ; and ; in not a few instan- 
ces, their holy triumphs when dying as martyrs to this 
cause, have done more to endear it to their fellow 
Christians, more to bring it home to their business and 
bosoms as a matter of deep personal interest, than all 
other means put together. I have no doubt that in this 
way Hall and Eichards, Pisk and Mrs. Newell, Judson 
and Winslow, and many more, bearing the heat and 
burden of the day in distant lands, have done and are 
doing more for the churches at home in elevating the 
standard of piety, and promoting a spirit of prayer, and 
self-denying benevolence, than if they had remained at 
home and labored ever so faithfully for these objects. 
And the spirit thus excited has not confined itself to 
the sphere where it began to act. Its propitious influ- 
ences have been felt in the cause of Christian and 
ministerial education of home missions, of Bible and 
Tract distribution, imparting new vigor and activity to 
every good purpose and effort ; thus it will be still. 
The spirit of missions will be diffused through the 
church very much in proportion to the numbers who 
consecrate themselves personally to the missionary work. 
And when this number has so increased that each indi- 
vidual church, and each smaller circle of Christian 
friends, has its representation among the heathen, sus- 
tained by its prayers and contributions, and by direct 
communication with it, keeping up a lively fellowship 
and a warm sympathy, then may we look for such 
unity of spirit and such union of exertion and supplica- 



ADDRESS. 405 

tion through the church as were witnessed in the primi- 
tive church, or as shall prepare the way for more than 
Pentecostal effusions of the Holy Ghost. Who that has 
seen the spiritual strength and beauty put on by a circle 
of Christian friends when they have parted with a 
beloved one, and bid him God speed on his errand of 
mercy to some far distant tribe of benighted Pagans, 
does not feel that the church would be blessed in sending 
forth many more of her sons to this work ! 

And this leads to another remark : that in a personal 
consecration to the work of missions, you have reason 
to hope for more extensive and lasting usefulness than 
in a different course. This is true, because the work 
of missions to the heathen is adapted to call out and 
invigorate the faculties and graces of the servants of 
Christ, so that their intellect, and moral strength, and 
efficiency, become positively greater than they would 
have been if they had not engaged in this work. 

And secondly : the same amount of labor, crowned 
with equal success, in the foreign field, tells far more 
upon the grand ultimate object of all ministerial labors 
than if it had been performed at home. 

The first reason is but an exemplification of the com- 
mon maxim, that character is moulded and modified by 
circumstances, and that great occasions make great men. 
To these must be added, in the present case, that the 
Great Head of the Church bestows peculiar gifts and 
endowments upon those who, at his call, enter upon 
services peculiarly arduous and important. To name 
individuals in illustration of this topic might seem in- 
vidious. I may appeal to those who have been fami- 
liarly acquainted with the brethren who have gone out 
from our churches to labor among the heathen, if they 
have not repeatedly been surprised to observe the evi- 



406 ADDRESS. 

dent improvement of character which has taken place ; 
the enlargement of their views, the elevation and man- 
liness of their spirit ; their fertility of resources ; their 
courage and decision in facing dangers, or engaging in 
arduous undertakings for the furtherance of the cause 
to which not a few, who, if they had remained at home, 
would have been common men, have obtained in this 
way a force and an unction that has placed them not a 
wit behind the most useful and influential. 

Analogous developments of character take place 
every day where men throw their whole souls into any 
great and worthy enterprise. They may be expected, 
most of all, in this most sublime and blessed work, the 
special patronage and promised aid and presence of 
him who is the Father of lights, from whom cometh 
down every good and perfect gift. 

But besides this, the same amount of labor, attended 
by equal success, is more valuable in the foreign field 
than it is at home ; more valuable, not because souls 
are more precious there than at home, but because of 
its bearing upon the great ultimate result. 

Suppose two men, equal in their gifts and qualifica- 
tions for usefulness to labor, each a score of years in 
the Gospel ministry with equal diligence and success, 
one in the church at home, the other, like Paul, where 
Christ was not named, so that, through him, " they to 
whom he was not spoken of, see, and they that had not 
heard, understand ;" each preaches the Gospel a certain 
number of times — is instrumental in the conversion of 
a number of souls — gathers one or more churches, and 
builds them up in the faith and order of the Gospel, 
and through the press, contributes to a certain extent 
to the spiritual benefit of all who read what he has 
written. But mark the difference in the effect of their 



ADDRESS. 407 

labors. The first has but contributed, in common with 
many others, to maintain at its previous tone, perhaps 
to elevate a few degrees, the spiritual life of the region 
where he has labored. The other, by the blessing of 
God, has introduced a living principle, diffusive and 
germinant, as the leaven or the mustard seed, where all 
before was desolate and dead. One has guided the 
waters of life into a channel more convenient and 
abundant for the refreshing of a company of Zion's 
pilgrims than if he had not labored; the other has 
opened a fountain in the desert, where the healing 
streams gush out for those who were perishing of thirst, 
and will not cease to flow ; one has shed the light of 
truth and love in a clearer and stronger lustre upon 
those unto whom the Sun of Eighteousness had already 
arisen with healing on his wings ; the other has borne 
the lamp of life where darkness covered the earth, and 
gross darkness the people, and by its rays, though fee- 
ble and tremulous, the anxious sinner may spell out an 
answer to the great inquiry ! If Brainerd and Martyn, 
Milne and Cary, Morrison and Hall, had labored at 
home, no doubt they would have been able and suc- 
cessful pastors ; yet not more so than hundreds of their 
contemporaries. But they went forth, for his name's 
sake, to toil and die among the Gentiles. And their 
earthly elevation, shining as stars of the first magnitude 
in view of the whole church, and of increasing multi- 
tudes of the heathen, is but the type and emblem of 
that everlasting splendor with which, having turned 
many to righteousness, they shall shine in the firma- 
ment of glory for ever. 

And who can doubt that Judson and Poor, Goodell 
and Bingham, and the great body of their fellow labor- 
ers, have already accomplished far more for the glory 



408 ADDRESS. 

of Christ in the world's conversion, than if they had 
labored with equal fidelity and diligence at home. Or 
where is the pious physician in our country whose life 
and labors, can be compared, in their bearing, upon the 
universal spread of the Gospel, and the best, the eternal 
interests of mankind, or even in the alleviation of pre- 
sent suffering, with those of Scudder, Grant, or Parker? 
If we look simply at direct influence upon the church 
at home, the missionary who is toiling for the diffusion 
of the light of life in the far distant regions of Pagan 
darkness or Mohammedan delusion, has reached a moral 
elevation whence he can embrace, in one clear and com- 
prehensive view, the whole church, away from those 
local and partial influences that limit and obscure the 
field of vision, to the most comprehensive and perspi- 
cuous minds less favorably situated. He stands on an 
eminence where all eyes may be fixed upon him, and 
his voice of affectionate warning or exhortation may 
be heard through all the churches. Who can measure 
the usefulness of such appeals as the last message of 
Gordon Hall to the t churches of his native land ? or 
Scudder's letters to physicians, or to the young men in 
our colleges? or the affecting call of the Baptist breth- 
ren in Burmah for men and funds to prosecute their 
work? 

For myself, I fully believe that in keeping the last 
command of her Lord, the church will find there is great 
reward. Many of those influences by which knowledge 
and holiness shall be so increased that " the light of the 
moon shall be as the light of the sun," " the feeble shall 
be as David," will flow back upon her as the blessed 
fruits of her labors, and sacrifices, and self-denial, in 
freely giving to the whole world that which she has 
freely received. 



ADDRESS. 409 

The Church at Antioch was more blessed, I have no 
doubt, in sending away Paul and Barnabas upon their 
missionary tour, than if she had retained them to minis- 
ter at her altars. And the churches of this land will 
lose nothing, nay, they will be every way gainers, by 
consecrating the most highly gifted of their sons and 
daughters to go forth, sustained by their gifts, sympa- 
thies, and prayers, as heralds of salvation to dying men. 
Nor have they who, in simplicity and godly sincerity, 
consecrate themselves to this work, any reason to fear 
they shall be losers in this life, or that which is to 
come, by their self-devotion. 

No doubt the foreign missionary work has its pecu- 
liar snares and temptations; and the faithful laborer 
must encounter many and sore trials, and be exposed 
to severe privations and hardships. Yet, take it all in 
all, no other calling or situation on earth is so favorable 
to eminent holiness and intimate communion with Christ, 
as that of Kim who bears the message of Heavenly mercy 
to his benighted fellow men in heathen lands. 

And as a body, our brethren and sisters, who are now 
toiling in this work, far away from beloved relatives, 
and the scenes and associates of early life, and all the 
precious privileges of their native land, are the happi- 
est company of the followers of Christ on earth. 

When compelled by failure of health or other causes 
to retire from the work for a season, they manifest 
great earnestness of desire to return to it. And their 
uniform declaration is, we would not exchange places 
with any of our brethren. 

Such is their testimony in their confidential commu- 
nications to their dearest friends — in their seasons of 
sickness and affliction, as well as in times of prosperity. 
In the honest hour of death, they who are called away 

la 



410 ADDRESS. 

when just entering upon the work (like Harriet Newell, 
the first martyr in this holy cause,) bless God that he 
ever put it into their hearts to engage in this work of 
mercy. And they who are spared to wear out life in 
the holy toil, count it (next to their conversion) their 
chief mercy that God has called them thus to serve him 
in the Gospel of his Son among the heathen. Thus 
Paul esteemed it, after almost thirty years of labors, re- 
proaches and privations, dangers, stripes, imprisonments, 
and daily deaths. u Unto me," saith he, " who am less 
than the least of all saints, is this grace given to preach 
among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ." 

Not merely that Christ Jesus should count him faith- 
ful, putting him into the ministry, but that he should 
send him forth as a missionary to the heathen. Nor did 
Paul think differently when, standing on the verge of 
life, he exhorted his beloved son, Timothy, to do the 
work of an evangelist. "For," said he, "I am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at 
hand." Nor afterward, when having walked in the 
steps of Jesus Christ, the great missionary, and over- 
come through his blood, he sat down with him upon 
his throne, according to his word, even as he overcame 
and sat down with the Father upon his throne. No 
man can be a loser in the honest and unreserved conse- 
cration of himself to this cause. For thus saith the 
faithful and true witness, " Whosoever shall lose his life 
for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it. 
And there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, 
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or 
lands, for my sake and the Gospel's, but he shall receive 
an hundred fold in this present time, and in the world 
to come, life everlasting." 

11 I can bear testimony," said a beloved brother who 



ADDRESS. 411 

had spent fifteen years of the prime of life among the 
heathen, on the evening previous to his embarkation, 
to return to his field of labor, " I can bear testimony," 
said he, in the presence of more than a thousand peo- 
ple, "from my own experience, to the truth of that pre- 
cious promise of Jesus Christ," 



THE END, 



